Community Air Quality Monitoring Network

Downtown Tampa from Channelside, showing mixed use development

Announcement: Coalition for Community Air Monitoring Meeting 4/18/2024 5-6:30pm

Join us for the first meeting of the Coalition for Community Air Monitoring! Anyone interested in the project is encouraged to participate. We will discuss expanding the Community Air Monitoring Network and Community Air Monitoring Site roles, responsibility, and eligibility. Click here to join the Teams meeting Thursday, April 18, 2024 5-6:30pm.

About the Community Air Monitoring Network

The Hillsborough Transportation Planning Organization is working with the University of South Florida, Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County, and community organizations to study air quality in underserved communities along the interstates by creating a network of small, affordable air monitors. This Community Air Monitoring Network is made up of community organizations and entities who volunteer to be Community Air Monitoring Sites and host an air monitor (e.g. PurpleAir and Clarity monitors). These air monitors are emerging technologies being installed and researched around the world, as well as in Hillsborough County.

Introducing Air Quality Video title screen
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Community Air Monitoring Sites April 2024Download

Community Air Monitoring Sites established through this project and EPC Regulatory Air Monitoring Sites used for testing:

  • New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church (NMZ)
  • Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association (THJCA)
  • Seminole Elementary School (SES)
  • Robert Saunders Library (Saunders)
  • Sulphur Springs Park
  • Robles Park
  • Perry Harvey Park
  • Munro EPC Site
  • Sydney EPC Site
Community Air Monitoring Sites

What’s the air quality like near you?

Use the real-time, interactive Clarity and PurpleAir maps to explore the air quality near you. Check out the Training Videos below for more information.

Clarity Map

PurpleAir Map

About Community Air Monitors

PurpleAir monitor

PurpleAir-PA-II monitor

Clarity Node S Monitor

Clarity Node S Monitor

USF Researchers installing PurpleAir Monitors at the Hillsborough County EPC Munro Street Air Monitoring Site.

USF Researchers installing PurpleAir Monitors at the Hillsborough County EPC Munro Street Air Monitoring Site.

‘Low-cost’ is the term being used in the research and practice world for an emerging type of innovative monitors that measure air quality. They are smaller and more affordable than national and state regulatory air monitors, and with a lower price and smaller size, more monitors can be dispersed across a greater area to capture more air quality measurements. Low-cost monitors are gaining popularity across the country and worldwide among individual residents and local agencies due to their ease of use and opportunities to share crowd-sourced air quality data (e.g. PurpleAir’s Real-Time Air Quality Map). The US Environmental Protection Agency provides additional information on air quality monitors at https://www.epa.gov/air-sensor-toolbox.

The cost of regulatory monitors is a big reason why there are so few such monitors in the county. For instance, a regulatory monitor for one pollutant can cost about $50,000 per year to operate. Low-cost air monitors are a way to expand air quality measurements and supplement regulatory data. Researchers and monitoring companies are currently putting in a lot of work to evaluate and develop lower-cost monitors that simultaneously provide reliable air quality data and still make community air measurements affordable and possible. The US Environmental Protection Agency provides additional information on air quality monitors at https://www.epa.gov/air-sensor-toolbox.

USF researchers researched and selected low-cost air quality monitors based on the following factors: the type and number of pollutants monitored; data collection, storage, and communication; monitor and installation costs; longevity and product support; and prior studies that tested the reliability of the monitor. The low-cost monitors were installed at the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) regulatory air monitoring site near I-275. USF tests and compares the data between the monitors used in the community air monitoring network and the EPC regulatory monitor to ensure data accuracy and reliability.

Phases

Phase 1

  • Oct 21 – Mar 22
  • Identify community monitoring areas
  • Install monitors at control site and begin testing
  • Engage community partners
  • Focus Group
  • Select community monitoring pilot sites
  • Apply for EPA ARP Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities Grant
  • Completed

Phase 2

Phase 3

  • Oct 22 – Mar 23
  • Report Findings
  • Co-locate monitors at control site
  • Continue data collection and analysis
  • Public engagement
  • Develop calibration methods
  • Develop training
  • Establish Community Air Monitoring Pilot Sites
  • Completed

Phase 4

  • Apr – Sept 23
  • Awarded EPA ARP Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities Grant
  • Continue long-term data collection and analysis
  • Continue calibration methods
  • Public engagement; disseminate training materials
  • Completed

Phase 5

  • Oct 23 – Apr 24
  • Community Air Monitoring Network Kick-off Meeting
  • Develop the Quality Assurance Project Plan
  • Prioritize areas for community air monitoring
  • Coalition for Community Air Monitoring meeting
  • Ongoing

Frequently Asked Questions

There are many ways to measure air pollution. Some examples are air pollution modelling, satellite data, and sampling pollutants

The most accurate and reliable method is regulatory monitoring, an air monitoring system managed by the US EPA. The Hillsborough EPC works with EPA and operates regulatory monitors in Hillsborough County to determine whether the county overall meets the EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). These regulatory monitors are accurate and reliable, provide high-quality data, and have a long lifespan. However, they are expensive and sparsely distributed.

A newer way to measure air pollution is by using small, lower cost air quality monitors. The cost of these monitors is fairly low, they have a small footprint, and some provide public access to the data. As it is an emerging technology, it requires further testing, periodical replacement.

We can evaluate air quality by:

  1. The amount of pollution, or the measurements of the pollution concentration levels. Through the Clean Air Act, the US EPA is required to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six principal pollutants, which are harmful to public health and the environment. If measurements from regulatory monitors do not meet these criteria, then it is designated as a non-attainment area.
  2. The Air Quality Index, which ranks the potential health risks associated with ranges of pollution concentrations from “good” to “hazardous.”

Get Involved!

Community organizations, residents, and schools can help us establish the network and monitor air quality in neighborhoods:

  • Host a low-cost air quality monitor,
  • Volunteer to help install and maintain low-cost air quality monitors and spread awareness about air quality and the network,
  • Join the Coalition on Community Air Monitoring
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Documents

Training Videos

Clarity Map Training Video title screen
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PurpleAir Map Training Video title screen
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Check out the TPO’s Community Air Quality Monitoring YouTube Channel for related videos.

Supporting Documents & Resources

EPA Environmental Justice Screening Tool

Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring Pilot Study Report Year 1

Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring Pilot Study Report Year 2

AQ Monitoring Pilot Site Feedback 2022 (Map Password: airquality)

Past Presentations & Events

Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring Pilot Study Update, February 2022
Focus Group Presentation 02/25/2022
Focus Group Mapping Activity – Monitoring Site Suggestions 02/25/2022
Community Air Quality Monitoring Pilot Study Update 09082022 PPT

Community Air Quality Monitoring Pilot Study Update 09082022 Video

Contact

Lizzie Ehrreich Baker – (813) 560-0255 – [email protected]