Evaluation of watering to control dust in high winds

A field study was conducted to determine the effective of watering in controlling PM10, emissions under high wind conditions. The focus of the study was the pickup of soil by a belly scraper at a landfill. Four low-volume PM10, samplers were positioned downwind of the storage pile (at two distances, 80 and 110 m, and two elevations, 1 and 3 m) and one was located upwind at 3 m elevation. Integrating nephelometers, which measure the particulate light scattering coefficient, b(sp), were also set up at locations 80 and 110 m downwind of the storage pile. Wind speed and direction were measured on-site. Samples were collected for two periods, one with and one without water being applied. Watering was effective at reducing PM10 emissions at wind speeds up to the maximum 18 m sec(-1) observed at the landfill soil pickup operation. Measurement of b(sp) provided an indication of PM10 concentrations with better time resolution than samplers, but not with sufficient resolution, under the instrumental conditions used, to correlate with wind gusts.