Particle Scanner Resources and Data - wawzat


SCAQMD AQ-SPEC EPA Star Grant


Overview

Regulatory quality particle measuring equipment is expensive and the distance it can measure various pollutants is limited. It is not possible to measure the actual concentration of certain pollutants in every area of the state with regulatory quality instruments. As a result Governmental agencies charged with measuring, reporting, enforcing and making policy decisions regarding air quality often have limited data to work with. For example the official particle detector used to report air quality for our area is located in Norco but PM10 particles (10 micrometers) typically settle out well before they would reach the Norco sensor from our location.

In the last few years improvements in miniaturization along with economies of scale have allowed the production of inexpensive yet high quality sensors. Although these sensors aren't as capable as a $35,000 regulatory quality sensor they are remarkably accurate within known ranges. Their low cost makes it feasible to locate sensors in areas outside the range of regulatory quality instruments providing useful information that otherwise wouldn't be available.

Local Program

Our local South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) has been awarded an EPA STAR grant to "Engage, Educate and Empower California Communities on the Use and Applications of "Low-cost" Air Monitoring Sensors".

Active residents of our Temescal Valley community worked directly with SCAQMD's EPA STAR grant program managers to be part of this pilot study program and obtained and deployed low cost particle sensors to residents who signed up to be part of the study. On July 26th, 2018 dozens of sensors were distributed free of charge to residents who signed up for the program. Within two weeks most of these sensors were up and running.

Community Workshop

The most recent community workshop was held on May 15th, 2019. SCAQMD presented progress and findings. SCAQMD Presentation