Air Quality

Services: Air Quality: Monitoring of Pollen, Humidity, and Pollution

Approximately 20-25% of Canadians are afflicted with seasonal pollen allergies and respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Tracking the amount of pollen, humidity, and pollution in the air should be of great interest to municipalities. Providing timely, accurate information on allergen levels would inform individuals on when to avoid engaging in outdoor or recreational activities that could trigger a respiratory crisis. This service reduces emergency room workloads and prevents further stretching of first responder services.

Applications and Solutions: Real-time Air Quality Information

While air quality reports given at the beginning of the day may help people decide if it is safe for them to go outside, levels can be variable and change by the hour. Real-time air quality information enables citizens to make fully informed decisions about the types of activities they undertake and when to undertake them, reducing risk and leading to increased public safety.

Technologies

Portable Outdoor Pollution Sensors – These handheld sensors automatically read the amount of certain gases, particles, and humidity in the air, which then can be analyzed by computer software to compare data with established thresholds. These figures can then be publicly reported to inform individuals of environmental conditions.

Permanent Outdoor Pollution Sensors – As opposed to portable sensors, these sensors are permanent fixtures that may be affixed to light posts, fences, and other structures to monitor pollutants. Their data is typically either stored in memory and read by a nearby wireless device, or accessible via Wi-Fi (if the sensor is connected to a network). Their data can be analyzed by software and reported.

Manual Allergen Forecasting and Collection – Strategically placed monitoring stations that collect air samples and analyzes those samples for allergen pollen using specialized lab equipment and technicians. A general pollen level is then classified as low, medium, or high, which then can be reported.

Automatic Allergen Forecasting and Collection – Utilizes strategically placed monitoring stations to collect air samples, which are then analyzed by onboard sensors or cameras that compare samples to past data to determine pollen concentration.

Smart Pollen Monitoring – Instead of measuring pollen load in the air, smart pollen monitoring estimates pollen distribution based on the amount of allergen plants within a certain area.

Managing Liability Issues

Accuracy and Cost

Issues.

⚠️ The more reliable and accurate the air quality reading technology is, the higher cost it demands. Additionally, automatic or smart pollen mapping does not tend to be as accurate as other forms of air monitoring in lower pollen conditions.

Managing Issues.

✅ Distribute costs. The cost of the service could potentially be distributed evenly across the municipality through mechanisms like property taxes or utility fees.

✅ Make use of existing initiatives. Private organizations already undertake their own air quality analysis, so municipalities may consider entering partnerships with these organizations or making use of the data they publish.

✅ Crowdsource. Smart pollen monitoring may make use of crowdsource tree and plant mapping to reduce costs of surveys.

✅ Increase accuracy through historical data. Current results may be compared to historical data trends to increase accuracy and flag potentially inaccurate readings.

Inclusion

Issues.

⚠️ While these outlined technologies are very good methods of collecting data for municipal use, data needs to be communicated livestream to the public to allow it to be useful.

Managing Issues.

✅ Create web portals. Pollution and pollen levels could be published and updated on the municipality’s existing websites, which could also contain historical data for comparison.

✅ Send notifications. Text or email alerts could be used to send interested parties daily pollen and pollution levels, with an included link to a website containing real-time information.

✅ Prioritize accessible methods. Since certain methods of measuring pollution and pollen load don’t require an actual test to be conducted (such as smart monitoring), these methods may be used to provide more accessible real-time data.

✅ Use technologies in conjunction. When trying to ensure data is both timely and accurate, redundancy is key. Certain systems may be used in conjunction (such as daily pollution/pollen tests and smart monitoring) in order to provide real-time data that is both accessible and verifiable.