By Zamone Perez
After more than a year of activity, a new North Carolina air quality monitoring tool has helped community members gather crucial information about environmental health.
The AirKeeper Dashboard by CleanAIRE NC uses a network of more than 300 air quality monitors to track pollution across the Tar Heel State.
Richie Harding, executive director of Northampton First, a community and environmental nonprofit, said the data has been helpful to the community, providing information on what kinds of unhealthy particles may be in the air.
“We get a better understanding of what’s going on around us with the different forms of industry that we have here,” Harding explained. “People are not just having difficulty breathing or seeing things, but now the clean air monitors allow them to get some actual data.”
What the new air quality monitoring system tracks
The dashboard provides real-time, historical data for communities and maps pollution sources close to health-sensitive populations, like childcare centers or assisted living facilities.
Research shows 100,000 Americans die each year from air pollution and more than half stem from the burning of fossil fuels.
Z Strawderman, dashboard and GIS manager for CleanAIRE NC, said the dashboard was developed with community input and usage in mind. The air monitors are operated by community scientists, everyday people who want the most accurate data on air quality in their communities. Strawderman added more changes are coming to further improve the tool.
“We wanted to know what people would want to have in a mapping tool such as this, and we continue to improve over time, so we release new data sets,” Strawderman outlined. “We have a very big version two release coming up this fall.”
The dashboard monitors for air particles such as PM2.5, otherwise known as fine particulate matter. The particles are associated with heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer and other diseases.
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