The City of New Haven has installed air quality monitors at sites near major transportation hubs across the city.
Mayor Justin Elicker said the monitors will allow the city to collect data from 11 new places. The monitors have sensors that collect air particles every 10 minutes. Elicker said people can view the data online and see close to real-time updates.
“We want to make sure the residents have their finger on the pulse of air quality. We want to make sure that we can collect more data to help guide our policy-making decisions, and that's why we are installing these air monitors,” Elicker said.
The sensors in New Haven are made by Purple Air, a common provider of low-cost community air quality (PM2.5) sensors. Particle pollution is one of the five major pollutants that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses for its Air Quality Index. The particulate matter (PM) captured by the sensors is fine solid particles and liquid droplets in the air emitted from automobiles, fires, power plants and other industrial sites.
Last year, Elicker said he would monitor air quality citywide after a similar project was conducted by the 10,000 Hawks group, which opposed expansion proposals of Tweed Airport. He said the city’s project would help to “better understand the degree that any local air pollution may impact different areas of the city.”
Elicker said New Haven is the center of transportation hubs, including highways, trains and airplanes. But he said air quality is also dependent on what happens in our region and around the country. He pointed to regional transport of pollutants and several air quality alerts issued last year from wildfires in Canada.
Elicker said the data is important to collect because of the many transportation hubs across the city.
“It contributes to some of our air quality challenges in the city. And air quality, as you all know, has a pretty significant impact on people's health,” Elicker said
New Haven Health Director Maritza Bond said New Haven has a higher concentration of individuals with asthma than the rest of the state—about 21% compared to 17% in the rest of the state. She said one in five adults in New Haven has asthma.
“We know the data has indicated that children and adults over 55 are most at risk for becoming impacted with poor air quality,” Bond said.
Unhealthy exposure to these particles can contribute to serious respiratory issues such as reduced lung function and asthma attacks and worsen other health problems such as heart attacks or strokes.
Residents seeking more information and air quality data can visit newhavenct.gov/AirQuality or purpleair.com.
