Monitored Asbestos Concentrations in Connecticut

An air asbestos survey was conducted between late 1974 and early 1977 to define the magnitude of the health hazard posed by airborne asbestos fibers in Connecticut prior to the promulgation of the State's proposed asbestos air quality standard (i.e., 30 ƞg/m3 or 30,000 total asbestos fibers/m3, 30-day average). A newly developed low volume particulate sampler, which operates continuously for 30 days at an air sampling flow rate of 4 cfm, equipped with special membrane filters was used to collect ambient TSP samples for subsequent chrysotile asbestos electron microscopic determination by the Bat-telle-Columbus Laboratories and Walter C. McCrone Associates. Approximately 40 monitoring sites were selected; ambient locations included "typical" urban sites removed from known stationary sources of asbestos emissions, rural-background sites, stations contiguous to 4 industrial users of asbestos (i.e., manufacturers of friction products, insulated wire and cable, ammunition and molding compounds), 3 toll plazas s...