MyAirSample.org

Enter chemicals of interest and their measured levels. If you are working from bucket results, enter the chemicals for which there was a measurable concentration (instead of ND or nondetect). You should be able to use common synonyms for the chemicals, but abbreviations might need to be spelled out. Be sure that all of the values you enter are in the units that you select for "Units your measured values are in (input)."

Click on the green plus sign to enter additional chemicals into your report.

Here you should choose the units that the results from your monitoring were reported in. Choose only one type of units for all of the chemicals and values that you enter in the table to the left.

For example, bucket results are in both µg/m³ and ppbv. If there are TICs (tentatively identified compounds), those are reported in µg/m³. It makes sense, then, to choose µg/m³ if you are using bucket results. For more information about what units are, click here.

What you choose here will determine whether the numbers in the report will be expressed in ppb, µg/m³, or ppbv. For example, if you choose ppb, you will see both your monitoring results and the levels of concern in terms of ppb. You should choose whatever units you are most comfortable with as the units for your final report. For more information about what units are, click here.

Parts per billion (ppb) describes how many parts of a chemical are in the same place as 1 billion parts of air. Parts per billion by volume, or ppbv, means the concentration has been figured out in terms of how much space the molecules take up. For example, if we follow a cookie recipe calling for 3 cups of vanilla and 1 billion cups of flour, then our concentration is 3 parts volume (cups of vanilla) per billion parts volume (cups of flour), or 3 ppbv vanilla in flour. Likewise, if 3 drops of benzene were in a billion drops of air, the concentration is 3 ppbv benzene in air. Three drops of benzene seems like a small amount, but just like how a small amount of vanilla in a recipe has a big effect on the cookies' flavor, 3 ppbv benzene in air is significant, too.

Micrograms per meter cubed (µg/m³) describes how much of a chemical’s weight is in a volume of air that takes up one cubic meter. Imagine an empty box that is three feet long on both sides, and three feet tall. One meter is about three feet long. So the box’s volume is 1 cubic meter, or 1 m³. A microgram (µg) is a very small weight, like that of a grain of sand. You put 3 grains of sand into the box. The concentration of sand inside the box is the weight of the sand (3 µg) divided by the volume of the box (1 m³), or 3 µg /m³. Like grains of sand, chemicals can also be reported by weight and volume. For example, a monitor might read 5 µg /m³ benzene, or 5 µg of benzene in 1 m³ of air.

What you enter for Organization name 1 and Organization name 2 will be used for the sub-titles of your report. Your entries will appear at the top of the first page of your report. If you would prefer to title your report with information other than an organization name, you can enter whatever you would like for report sub-titles into one or both of these two boxes. Text entered under Organization name 1 appears on the second line of the first page of your report as "For Organization name 1", and text entered under Organization name 2 appears on the third line as "Organization name 2". If they are left blank, they do not appear in the report. The first line (title) of all reports is "Levels of Concern Report" regardless of what is entered in Organization name 1 and 2.

You can enter a name for the sample here. If you are working with bucket results, the air collected in one bucket on one date is the sample. You might have a name you want to use for this bucket sample or you might not. It is optional to enter a sample identifying name. If entered, the sample identifying name will appear on the first page of the report. Examples of possible sample identifying names include "Sample from Ms. Jones' house" and "RAN project sample 1" – these would return on the report as "Sample identifying name: Sample from Ms. Jones' house" and "Sample identifying name: RAN project sample 1."

You can enter the date the sample was taken here. It is optional to enter a date. If entered, this date will appear on the first page of the report. If you are working with bucket results, the date the sample was taken would be the date the bucket was used to collect the air at the sample location. You can also enter a time here, and you can enter the date and/or time in any format you want. Examples of possible entries here include "6/22/2013", "June 22, 2013 5pm", "6:42 pm on 6-22-2013", and "summertime" – these would return on the report as "Date sample was taken: 6/22/2013", "Date sample was taken: June 22, 2013 5pm", etc.

Here you can enter the location where the sample was taken. If you are working with bucket results, this would be the address or some other name for the location where the bucket was put to collect the air sample. It is optional to enter a location for the sample. If entered, the location will appear on the first page of the report. For example, if you enter "1200 Main Street" it will appear on the report as "Location sample was taken at: 1200 Main Street" and if you enter "My house" it will appear as "Location sample was taken at: my house."

Use this section to choose which standards, screening levels and minimal risk levels you want to compare your measured values to. Choosing "one set of levels" returns a brief report comparing your measured values to the standards or screening levels of your choice. For more information on each of these choices, click on About the levels of concern. Choosing "all levels your sample is above" lists any of the levels of concern that your measured values are above. Choosing "all available levels of concern" returns a full report that compares your measured values to all levels of concern in this tool, whether above or below, and highlights the levels that your measured values are above.

Note: All levels of concern in the tool were updated in May 2015: ATSDR Minimal Risk Levels, EPA Region 6 Screening Levels, Louisiana Ambient Air Quality Standards, North Carolina Ambient Air Standards, and Texas Effects Screening Levels -- any of these levels in the report are up-to-date as of May 2015.

Currently, only the PDF report option is working. We will be adding an option to display the report on the web soon. Viewing a PDF requires you to have software on your computer for viewing PDF documents. One popular free program that allows you to view PDFs is Adobe Reader, which you can download for free here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

You can use this drop-down menu to choose whether to include explanatory material at the end of the report which describes units and levels of concern. If you are creating a report using our system for the first time, or if you plan to share your report with others, we recommend you choose "an explanation of both units and levels of concern." If you have created reports using our system before and are familiar with the text in the explanations, you might want to choose to include only one of the explanations ("an explanation of units only" or "an explanation of levels of concern only") or you might want to choose "no text at the end of the report."

The optional units description is a three-paragraph explanation. The optional description of the levels of concern gives a paragraph describing the government agency and methods involved in the development of the levels of concern used in your report. Explanatory paragraphs for levels of concern included at the end of the report are only those levels actually reported on in your report. For example, if you choose to compare to only one set of air standards, and you choose the "EPA Region 6 Screening Levels," only the explanatory paragraph for "EPA Region 6 Screen Levels" will be included at the end of the report.

When you press this button, your report will be generated – that is, if everything in our system is working correctly! If you have trouble getting your report to generate, please email us at drcsdirector@gmail.com