Citizens Monitor Air Quality In Cleveland

The Clean Air Conservancy and Environmental Defense today released first time data on air quality from citizen monitoring in specific Cleveland neighborhoods. In August, volunteer Cleveland residents collected data with hand-held devices for four weeks in six neighborhoods to learn more about local air pollution. The results indicate differences in ozone (smog) levels among neighborhoods, although generally smog levels were low this summer likely due to unseasonably cool temperatures (higher temperatures and related weather patterns can contribute to the formation of smog).

“We strongly support this kind of citizen monitoring,” said Halley Rosen, outreach coordinator at Environmental Defense. “The variation in readings from the hand-held devices highlights the need for further investigation of local smog levels.”

There is one Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitor within the city limits of Cleveland and only three in all of Cuyahoga County. “Residents are concerned that the single Cleveland EPA monitor does not paint an accurate picture of smog levels across the entire city and cannot identify potential local hot spots of smog,” said Kevin Snape, executive director of The Clean Air Conservancy.

To refine the results of the monitoring effort, the Cleveland monitoring network will be expanded next summer by having citizens collect data using 50 hand-held monitors in numerous Cleveland neighborhoods. In addition, the data from this summer, which has not yet been reviewed by outside scientists, will be further analyzed and evaluated.

For more information about the procedures used, how the technology works, limitations of the technology, as well as the raw data, please visit www.environmentaldefense.org on the web.