VOCs are organic compounds that evaporate easily into the air. Besides being a component of landfill gas, VOCs are commonly found in automobile exhaust and in common household chemicals. For more information on VOCs, please visit www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html.

The mobile sampling equipment that HCDOES is using to gather real-time data takes a sample of many types of VOCs and adds all of those concentrations together. This is called a total VOC sample.

If real-time sampling of VOCs returns a concentration of 500 parts per billion (ppb) over a sustained period of one minute at any of the 17 monitoring sites, HCDOES will take a canister sample immediately on the spot. The canister will collect more detailed and specific data on the amount and type of each VOC that is in the air at that time. HCDOES, Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA established this threshold because canister measurements collected below 500 ppb do not reveal any individual VOC measurements at any potential concentration that could impact public health. 

To date, no canister samples have been collected based on the above criteria.

Please click here to view instantaneous sample results on HCDOES's Web site.

Hamilton County Public Health has provided an interactive map of the results, but it will require that you download the Google Earth plug-in to view. If you do not  have this plug-in, you will be prompted to download it when you click the link above. If you do not wish to download the plug in, please contact HCDOES at (513) 946-7777 to make arrangements to see the data in another format.