It’s well documented that air quality is worse in poor neighborhoods and communities of color across California and the United States, but until now, that trend was hard to determine in Sacramento.
That’s changing: More than 20 rooftop solar-powered air quality monitors have been installed across North Sacramento and Oak Park, allowing residents to see what pollution levels are like in real-time.
...The monitors are placed across North, Central and South Oak Park, as well as across Old North Sacramento, South Hagginwood and Del Paso Heights up to Interstate 80.
The new equipment is part of the California Air Resources Board’s Community Air Protection program, which aims to address environmental inequity by helping residents living in high pollution-burden areas better understand air quality issues at a neighborhood level.
Through the program, CARB awarded a two-year grant to a group of local nonprofits called the Sacramento Neighborhoods Activating on Air Quality coalition to monitor neighborhood pollution and develop strategies to achieve cleaner air. That coalition includes Valley Vision, WALKSacramento, Breathe California Sacramento Region, and Green Tech Education.
The rooftop monitors measure fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides, two types of pollution that can result from pollutants emitted from cars, trucks, power plants, refineries, warehouses and other sources.I'm picky. Looking at the map of the sites they've installed, the sites look too close together to provide data of much interest.
For example, all the sites in North Oak Park are all on the east side of Highway 99. You can't look at the freeway's contribution to air quality unless you have some sites on the opposite side, in Curtis Park.
If you want to demonstrate that richer neighborhoods have better air quality you need to have monitors in those richer neighborhoods.
Still, it's good to have extra monitors, no matter the reasons why.
The acid test, though, is where are the data being archived? Where is that location? Archives are valuable! Inquiring minds want to know!
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