Monitoring of air quality at rice mills is of paramount importance in agricultural communities, as oftentimes, residents near these establishments are affected by dust pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted in a statement.
EPA noted that continuous monitoring is ongoing along with the gathering of data to classify and regulate the state of the environment.
The EPA facilitates the monitoring with air quality monitors located at Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam, and Hampton Court.
There are a number of point sources of dust pollution as it relates to rice production.
EPA noted that the processes involved in rice production that produce particulate matter, such as fine dust particles, include drying of paddy, burning of paddy husk as fuel, dumping of paddy ash, spontaneous combustion of paddy husk, and transport of rice by-products.
In order to minimize the effects of these processes, the EPA recommends the use of wet suppression techniques, heavy-duty filters, appropriation of adequate buffer zones between the mill and residential areas, and the use of covers for trucks.
