Received Slo County Jul 2 6 2017 Air Pollution Control District San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo Grand Jury July*

The District does not have an effective system to follow-up with the public, schools, medical clinics, hospitals, or those who sign up to receive AirAware Alerts and Better Breather Alerts. In response to Finding F1 of the SLO County Grand Jury Report, SLO County APCD would like to further clarify and define the active communication programs related to alerting the public during air quality events. AirAware Text Notification Program AirAware Alerts allow anyone with a mobile device to sign up to receive a text notification for various air quality events. In addition to being able to sign up for things such as our press releases or when there may be smoke impacts, users can sign-up to receive "Early Alerts for Blowing Dust Events on the Nipomo Mesa." As explained in the FAOs for the AirAware Alerts, these "early alerts" are sent whenever the CDF Nipomo monitor registers an hourly PM10 concentration above 175 ug/m3 between the hours of 9am and midnight. This value indicates a blowing dust event is underway and a health advisory will likely be issued that day. Example of a standard AirAware Text for blowing dust: (EARLY AIRAWARE ALERT) Blowing dust detected on the Nipomo Mesa. Visit AIRNOW http://lipomoAQI to monitor the hourly AQI. T 805.781.5912 F 805.781.1002 w slocleanair.org 3433 Roberto Court, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 SLO County APCD Grand Jury Response July 20, 2018 Better Breather Alert A Better Breather Alert for blowing dust is issued as a general press release. This press release is issued when the hourly PM_{10} concentration at any of the Nipomo area monitors reach above 300 ug/m3. A Better Breather Alert could also be issued for ozone concentrations. This is most likely to be seen in the summer months in the eastern portion of SLO County. Example of a standard Better Breather Text for blowing dust (this is sent in addition to a traditional press release: SLO County APCD Better Breather Alert issued due to blowing dust impacting the Nipomo area today, (date). Find out more at https://goo.gl.QpnFR. The link then takes subscribers to our Press Release page on the website. Currently, all of our Better Breather Alerts are widely distributed across the county to various English and Spanish media outlets, sister agencies, other Air Districts, APCD Board of Directors and more. Staff also follows up on each Better Breather Alert with the individual impacted schools to ensure they are aware of the event and precautions they should take. Moving forward in the next school year, APCD staff has developed separate distribution lists for all schools countywide and we will be including impacted school districts in our press releases for any air quality events in their area. This is a task that requires extensive updates as administration at the school and district level changes yearly. Advertising the AirAware Alerts System Due to the nature of the AirAware Alerts, they are something that users sign up for through our website. We have been regularly advertising the AirAware Alerts, specifically through schools in the impacted area, by doing advertisements through a platform called PeachJar, which is a digital flyer channel that reaches parents and schools directly. We have also done advertisements in local papers, in a series of brochures that were recently developed and distributed to medical offices and will continue to promote through our website and social media channels. In addition, APCD will continue to distribute e-flyers through the PeachJar interface into the new school year. APCD will also be following up with a letter all Lucia Mar Unified administration in the new school year with a letter to re-introduce them to the Better Breather Alerts and ensure they are informed about the AirAware text notification program. Follow-up System for AirAware Alert System When the AirAware Alert System was implemented, all APCD staff were asked to subscribe to the alerts. Not only did this help facilitate immediate information to all staff, it allowed us to ensure that the text alerts were being distributed to the text list. All staff had to go through the same procedure to sign up for the alerts as the general public would. In addition, several staff have friends and family that are also signed up to receive alerts. Many of which work in public schools, hospitals, medical facilities and more. APCD Outreach staff routinely follow up with those signed up to ensure texts are being sent. If a user believes they are not getting alerts, we have provided contact information on the AirAware website to allow them a way to get in touch with us. APCD will continue to develop and refine methods of following up with the public to ensure they are informed before and during blowing dust events. SLO County APCD Grand Jury Response July 20, 2018 Additional ways the public can stay informed In addition to the AirAware Alert System, the public has several other options that can help them stay informed about the air quality in their community. Currently 745 individuals are signed up and registered with Enviroflash to receive daily AQI emails for SLO County Air Quality conditions. The AQI program, which is a color-coded tool that is used nationwide, helps individuals track local air quality conditions and potential health impacts via several information sources including EnviroFlash emails, the APCD website, Twitter, and local newspapers. They can also sign up for the AirNow Enviroflash App, enter their zip code and see the current AQI for different pollutants.