The Pollution Control Services Department responds to hazardous materials incidents in Harris County and evaluates their impact to the public and the environment. The Emergency Response Team maintains 24-hour/day on-call coverage. Responses include fires involving hazardous materials, industrial facility releases, chemical spills, and abandoned drums and containers of unknown waste.
Additionally, the Emergency Reponses Section includes the Monitoring and Surveillance Team who is charged with utilizing sophisticated instrumentation to measure air quality during environmental emergencies. When emergencies are not occurring, this team utilizes the same equipment to gather data for the day to day air quality and to locate and identify sources of air pollution.