Air Interface

NACA conference a worthwhile opportunity to air views on pollution

ORGANISERS of the National Clean Air Association (NACA) conference are very pleased with the outcome of the event, which was held in Fourways, Johannesburg from 4-8 October 2004.

Pieter Odendaal, NACA Technical Director, said: “More than 170 delegates attended. We had two workshops before the conference which were well supported and we were most impressed with the large number of quality papers that we received. A lot of effort went into the exhibits and all the instruments you could dream of for air poll monitoring could be found. There is a great need for this kind of conference in SA and delegates found it worthwhile to attend.”

ECOSERV and AER both sent teams of representatives. Quentin Hurt, Harold Annegarn, Lisa Guastella, Bryan Taylor and Robin Bissett all presented papers. Other attendees were Sthembiso Ngidi, Thandi Mfenqa, Vladimir Jovic and Catherine Monareng. Mark Baird and Allan Jansen manned the exhibition stand.

“ECOSERV is a valued member of NACA. They support us in all aspects,” said Pieter. “They always attend our annual conferences and present papers. Conference adjudicators all agreed that Ecoserv’s papers were excellent. Their exhibit was very interesting this year. Mark and Allan, who were manning the stand, were knowledgeable and helpful.”

ECOSERV director Quentin Hurt said their stand was well received. “A number of municipalities approached us about our air quality management plans and suppliers were extremely interested in Moyomnandi, our locally manufactured stack sampler.”

Quentin presented at “Air Quality Management: The German and South African Experience”, a workshop prior to the conference. The workshop was facilitated by Marion Wiechmann-Fieberg, a senior manager in the German environmental agency, dealing with air quality management. Harold Annegarn presented at the Risk Assessment in Air Pollution workshop.

“Presentations are improving year by year,” said presenter Lisa Guastella. “I received positive feedback to my presentation on the culmination of eight years data collection for the Durban South system. Papers I enjoyed most were on the fuel industry and fire burning techniques.”

Bryan gave a clear, well delivered paper on his work at Engen and Robin Bissett delivered a concise presentation on the comparison of BTEX compounds analysed by passive and active methods.

The gala evening was another highlight of the conference. “Last year we only gave one award but this year we gave six,” said Pieter. “There was no shortage of very worthy recipients.”

Eskom received two awards for environmental management, Kobus Pienaar received a lifetime award for his contribution to air science in SA and Manozie Radebe and Ken Toward received awards for their work in establishing and maintaining the Saiccor monitoring system. Harold Annegarn was honoured for his work on the Safari project. A notable omission from the prizewinners was Sthembiso Ngidi who, according to amused spectators, was due a trophy for cutting up the dance floor.

Bursaries are available from NACA for post-graduate studies related to air pollution. “I hold applications until October to give everybody a fair chance,” said Pieter. “We pay the course fees and try to support students for two years.” Along with other delegates to the NACA AGM, the amount allocated to bursaries was thought to be too low. Outgoing NACA Chair, Gerrit Cornelius undertook to address this matter in committee.

Find NACA’s contact details on www.naca.org.za