Philadelphia launches real-time air quality monitoring system: "This is public health in action"
A new air quality monitoring system will allow Philadelphia residents to track air pollution in their neighborhoods in real time.
Mayor Cherelle Parker and other officials announced Wednesday the launch of Breathe Philly, a series of 76 ground-level air quality monitors that provide hourly air quality measurements across each of the city's districts.
"You can access up-to-date information about the air that you and your family are breathing right where you live," Parker said.
A map on the city's website shows where each of the monitors is located. Monitors labeled in green indicate good air quality; yellow indicates moderate air quality; orange lets residents know that the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Red, purple and maroon monitors would indicate more serious health risks.
On the day the monitor system was unveiled, the city and its surrounding counties happened to be under a Code Orange air quality alert.
"This is public health in action for Philadelphia," Parker said.
According to City Councilmember Nina Ahmad, Philadelphia is the first city to install and implement the Clarity Node sensor technology that powers the air quality monitors. The monitors are solar-powered, cellular-connected and weatherproof, and will collect data used to analyze air quality impacts on people with asthma, emergency room visits, missed school days and other negative health burdens, Ahmad said.
"We always have to look at the outcomes," the councilmember said. "Especially in neighborhoods that have carried the greatest environmental health burdens for far too long."
Ahmad said this is personal for her.
"My mother was a chronic asthmatic all her life, and she lived in a place where air quality was not a concern. ... I know she's smiling somewhere, saying we are taking care of the lungs of our young people," she said.
The trackers will help residents be proactive when it comes to dangers in the air, officials said.
"You hear about a fire. You can automatically — instead of waiting for an alert — you can automatically make those informed decisions," Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said.
The city also has a mobile air monitoring van that can measure air quality in real time.
Parker said the data will help guide other city initiatives, such as planting trees to prevent heat islands and clean the air.
Residents can also find information on the Breathe Philly website about different pollution types, annual air quality reports and steps to take when air quality is poor.
