Community Air Monitoring

The Sac Metro Air District, in collaboration with the South Sacramento/Florin Steering Committee, has developed and is implementing a Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP) to collect local air pollution data to help address community air pollution concerns. The CAMP outlined a three phase approach using increasingly more accurate equipment to gather detailed data that will help understand the community's existing levels of pollution. This air monitoring data will help inform which strategies are chosen to reduce air pollution and exposure in the community.

Real Time Monitoring - Phase 1

Date range of monitoring data: July 2019 - Present

Air quality sensors were installed throughout the community to provide real-time air quality information for residents. These sensors measure small particles of pollution called PM_2.5. These particles are invisible and 30 times smaller than the diameter of the human air. They are a complex mixture that may contain soot, smoke, metals, nitrates, sulfates, dust, and more. PM_2.5 pollution comes from cars, trucks, woodsmoke, and combustion from industrial operations. Residents may find this data especially useful on days when wildfire smoke affects the area. Having real-time, local air quality information can help residents make healthy choices on whether to do outdoor activities during days with poor air quality.

Please see map below for live air quality sensor data. Addresses of these monitors are available (here). For more information on the color coding of the map, click (here) and select the PM_2.5 tab.

Enhanced Monitoring - Phase 2

Date range of monitoring: August 2020 – Present

In August 2020, the District deployed more advanced monitoring equipment to collect detailed air quality information and determine in which area the mobile laboratory should be sited. These sites measures black carbon, toxic metals, and toxic gases (also called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs). A map of the Phase 2 monitor locations is available (here).

Black carbon is measured hourly while toxic metals and VOCs are 24 hour samples, measured every six (6) days. Samples collected are sent to an air quality laboratory to determine the concentrations of specific pollutants. Phase 2 monitoring will end November 2021. Data is posted after it has been validated and processed.

	Black Carbon	Toxic Gases (VOCs)	Toxic Metals
Sample lab report with guide on how to read the data	Not Applicable	pdf	pdf
Laboratory analysis documents	Not Applicable	zip (08/2020-02/2021) Updated as of 07/20/2021	zip (08/2020-02/2021) Updated as of 07/16/2021
Raw air quality data	xlsx (08/2020-02/20201) Updated as of 07/21/2021	xlsx (08/2020-02/2021) Updated as of 07/20/2021	xlsx (08/2020-02/2021) Updated as of 07/16/2021

Mobile Laboratory - Phase 3

Date range of monitoring data: Has Not Started

The mobile laboratory will use professional-grade air monitoring equipment to collect data to determine what type of air pollution sources are impacting the community. The Phase 3 monitor location will remain at that location for at least 6 months. Air quality data will be posted here once this phase starts collecting data.

You may also provide feedback and ask questions about Community Air Monitoring by emailing CommunityAirProtectionMonitoring@airquality.org.