Air monitoring network to launch
A Writer fter many years of continuous effort to give the community better access to air quality data around the Imperial Valley, Comite Civico del Valle along with partnering organization will launch the network and website Friday morning.
The organization will officially unveil the new website where the public can access real-time data of the air quality throughout Imperial County at Heber Elementary, followed by a reception at the Twin Dragon restaurant where members of the partner organizations will be on hand to talk about the benefits that the air monitoring network will bring to the local community.
The program and the 40 air monitors that have been installed across the Valley are part of a 4-year, $2 million project funded by the National Institutes of Health in addition to the collaboration from the Public Health Institute’s California Environmental Health Tracking Program and researchers from the University of Washington.
The project will enhance the existing environmental monitoring website IVAN which stands for Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods, which was founded by Comite Civico del Valle in 2008 and uses crowd-sourcing to gather environmental complaints.
Comite Cívico del Valle Executive Director Luis Olmedo said that half of the monitors were placed according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s sitting criteria and the other in areas of concern throughout the community.
“It’s huge for us, this will really give us a better sense of where sources of pollution are at and allow local officials in their decision making,” Olmedo said.
The Imperial Valley ranks among the highest areas in the state for asthma related hospitalizations and emergency room visits for children.
That is the reason that one of the main areas of concerns for Comite was to quantify the air quality around the schools of the Valley on any given day. With the new tool at their disposal school administrators can be better informed on when it is best to reduce outdoor activities in days when the air quality is a concern.
“It will be very useful, and give people opportunity to better assess air quality around the schools,” he said.
As of now 13 schools are participating in the program and have monitors installed at the school. One of them is Heber Elementary.
“The air monitor helps us to be alerted that students with asthma or breathing condition may be affected,” said Heber Elementary Principal Patty Marcial. “Knowing that the air quality is in a poor state helps us decide when to keep students indoors.”
One of the unique features of the air monitoring program is that local residents will be able to sign up to receive alerts on their phones for selected air monitors or for the entire network.
Olmedo said that the program is very replicable and that they’ve seen similar efforts have begun in other border communities such as San Ysidro. He said he would like for more communities to do the same across the state.
With the continued push by state legislators to cut back on greenhouse emissions over the next couple of decades, the system could potentially provide relevant data to determine how climate change is affecting the air quality of the Valley and whether the efforts the state is undertaking are being effective.
For more information contact Comite Civico del Valle at (760) 351-8761.