AIRSENSE:
REAL-TIME AIR MONITORING IN BEAVER COUNTY
AirSense is a Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC) project, designed to provide real-time air quality data and a comprehensive health risk assessment, to inform and empower community members. For the stationary monitors in this project, five Aeroqual brand AQM 65 Monitors have been strategically installed throughout the county to continuously measure chosen air pollutants. These monitors are of similar quality to those used by regulatory agencies. Each of the pollutants were chosen for monitoring because they are common pollutants that contribute to air pollution and are associated with negative health effects. As a part of this project, the Environmental Health Project provides BCMAC with quarterly air quality reports. You can read the latest report, here.
The project also includes one mobile ENMET eGC (environmental Gas Chromatograph) air monitor that can be moved and relocated throughout the community. This monitor will be calibrated to test for 1,3 butadiene and benzene. If you are interested in temporarily hosting the mobile air monitor, please fill out this form.
Air Quality Index (AQI) is a number that tells us how clean or dirty the air is. It helps people know if the air is safe to breathe, or if they should spend time outside.
The colors on the AQI chart help us understand:
- Green (0-50) = Good air, safe to breathe.
- Yellow (51-100) = Okay air, but some people might feel a little sick.
- Orange (101-150) = Not great air, some people might have trouble breathing.
- Red (151-200) = Bad air, lots of people might feel sick.
- Purple (201-300) = Very bad air, dangerous for everyone.
- Maroon (301-500) = Super dangerous air, everyone should stay inside.
While the AQI scale itself is consistent across all pollutants, the pollutant concentration thresholds that correspond to different AQI levels differ by pollutant:
- Ozone (8-hour average, ppb)
- PM2.5 (24-hour average, µg/m3)
- NO2 (1-hour average, ppb)
| AQI Numbers | AQI Category (Descriptor) | AQI Color |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 50 | Good | Green |
| 51 - 100 | Moderate | Yellow |
| 101 - 150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Orange |
| 151 - 200 | Unhealthy | Red |
| 201 - 300 | Very Unhealthy | Purple |
| 301 - 500 | Hazardous | Maroon |
| AQI Numbers | AQI Category (Descriptor) | AQI Color |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 50 | Good | Green |
| 51 - 100 | Moderate | Yellow |
| 101 - 150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Orange |
| 151 - 200 | Unhealthy | Red |
| 201 - 300 | Very Unhealthy | Purple |
| 301 - 500 | Hazardous | Maroon |
| AQI Numbers | AQI Category (Descriptor) | AQI Color |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 50 | Good | Green |
| 51 - 100 | Moderate | Yellow |
| 101 - 150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Orange |
| 151 - 200 | Unhealthy | Red |
| 201 - 300 | Very Unhealthy | Purple |
| 301 - 500 | Hazardous | Maroon |
Project SPOTlight:
community air monitoring in Beaver County
The Breathe Project and Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC) are working together to distribute FREE air quality monitors in Beaver County through Project SPOTlight. PurpleAir monitors are an easy way to get real-time information on air quality at and around your house. If you are interested in hosting an air monitor, please fill out this form. Once you do so, we will reach out to coordinate installing an air quality monitor at your home as long as you live in the target region, have consistent WiFi access and a reliable outdoor power source. Once the sensor is installed, it will run on its own and record data on PM2.5 every two minutes.
Other Air Monitors:
The Shell Plastics Plant has a fenceline monitoring program along its perimeter. Two types of monitoring are conducted with this program: a Passive Air Monitoring System (PAMS) and a Continuous Air Monitoring System (CAMS).
The Passive Air Monitoring System (PAMS) is a sampling process that is conducted by deploying 17 clean absorbent tubes around the facility fence line every 2-weeks. These absorbent tubes absorb/collect Benzene, n-Hexane, 1-3-Butadiene, Toluene, and Naphthalene that may be in the surrounding air. After each 2-week period the tubes are collected and analyzed to calculate an average Benzene concentration over the sampling period and compare that to an Action Threshold to determine a response.
The Continuous Air Monitoring System (CAMS) consists of 4 units that contain a Photo Ionization Detector (PID) and Summa Canister. The PID continuously samples the surrounding air and if it detects an emission above the Non-Methane Non-Ethane Volatile Organic Compound Action Level, it triggers the Summa Canister to take a sample over the next 30 minutes. The Summa Canister sample is then analyzed for Chemicals of Potential Concern.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA-DEP) conducts air monitoring at multiple sites within Beaver County. One of BCMAC’s AQM 65 monitors is co-located alongside the PA-DEP’s monitor at Beaver/Fort McIntosh. However, their monitor only measures Ozone (ppb) and PM2.5 (μg/m3). The results for the PA-DEP monitor are updated hourly and can be found here.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a tool called AirNow, which highlights air quality in your local area first, while still providing air quality information at state, national, and world views. You can view that data here. AirNow’s Fire and Smoke map, a collaborative project with the US Forest Service, uses a variety of products including low-cost sensors to provide detailed, up-to-date information that can be critical to users experiencing smoke events. You can view that data here.
EPA's RadNet system monitors the nation's air, ambient exposure rates, precipitation and drinking water for radiation. It has 140 radiation air monitors in 50 states and runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week collecting near-real-time measurements of gamma radiation. The closest monitor to Beaver County is located in Pittsburgh. Over time, RadNet sample testing and monitoring results reveal the normal background levels of environmental radiation. You can view the RadNet dashboard here.
Other Tools:
The BreatheCam is a high-resolution, zoomable, live camera feed of the Shell Plastics Plant to help you discover more about the air you breathe. You can view the BreatheCam here.
Smell MyCity is a smartphone app designed to crowdsource reports of pollution odors travelling through our cities. All smell reports submitted through the app are visible on a map, and this information is publicly available on their website. Local residents, organizations and regulators can use smell report data to help track down potential sources of pollution in their neighborhood. You can download Smell Report data here.
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is an EPA resource for learning about toxic chemical releases and pollution prevention activities reported by industrial and federal facilities. You can view TRI tools here.
EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) tool allows you to search for facilities in your community to assess their compliance with environmental regulations. You can use ECHO to search for facilities, investigate pollution sources, search EPA enforcement cases, examine and create enforcement-related maps, and analyze trends in compliance and enforcement data. You can view the ECHO website here.