The Flathead City-County Health Department this fall is set to begin air quality testing in Whitefish.

The chemical mass balance testing will determine the major sources for particulate matter in the air and in particular those that are 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller — the tiny airborne pollutants that are of concern for people’s health when levels in the air are high. They are so small they can be harmful when breathed in because they can travel through the respiratory tract into the lungs.

County Public Health Officer Joe Russell said the testing will be looking for all types of particulants, but specifically looking for those that come from combustion emissions and crustal materials such as soil.

“People have some concerns about the diesel emissions from BNSF Railway,” Russell said. “This will quantify if the emissions are deleterious.”

The county received a $30,000 grant from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to cover the cost of the testing. The county will work with DEQ and the University of Montana to conduct the testing.

Russell said the last time the county preformed air quality tests in Whitefish was the mid-1990s and he’s anxious to have an updated study. He noted the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have changed since then.

“I’m really happy we’re doing this study,” Russell said. “We want to see if combustion is the bigger problem in Whitefish.”

The test will be able to differentiate between combustion from gas versus diesel engines.

Russell said it’s important for the county to monitor all particulates that may be in the air because high levels can have an impact on those who are respiratory-compromised.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, particulate matter is made up of tiny pieces of solids or liquids that are in the air and may include, dust, dirt, soot, smoke and drops of liquid. Some are big enough to see and others can’t be seen in the air.

Breathing in particle pollution can be harmful to your health, according to the CDC. People most likely to experience health effects caused by particle pollution include people with heart or lung diseases, older adults and babies and children.

Testing in Whitefish is set to run over the winter through March and results should be available in June 2016. Four air quality monitors will be placed on top of Whitefish High School.

WHS was chosen as the location for testing because it would allow a neighborhood picture of the air quality in Whitefish, Russell noted. The school is not directly located near the railroad tracks running through downtown or U.S. Highway 93, which are two areas likely to have higher emissions and could have impacted results.

Previous air quality tests in the county revealed that poor air quality was the result of wood stoves and dust created from road material such as sanding in the winter and unpaved parking lots.

As a result the county established a control program to minimize the impacts of the air pollution source by establishing an open burning season to regulate when burning is allowed. In addition, work was also done to pave roads and parking lots and change the type of sand material used on roads in the winter, according to Russell.

The city of Whitefish in 1995 adopted air quality regulations that called for paving and street sweeping because Whitefish was named a federal “non-attainment” area after frequent violations of the federal clean air standards in 1992.

“We want to minimize particulates in the air with the things we can control,” Russell said. “We look forward to implementing strategies to improve the air quality.”