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). If you would like to download the raw data from these sensors, please visit the AQ View data portal here: aqview.arb.ca.gov/data.html. 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 – November 2021

In August 2020, the District deployed more advanced monitoring equipment to collect detailed air quality information and determine which area the portable laboratory should be sited. These sites measured 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. A list of VOCs and toxic metals analyzed during Phases 2 and 3 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 ended 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) zip (03/2021-11/2021) Updated as of 03/09/2021	zip (08/2020-02/2021) zip (03/2021-12/2021) Updated as of 03/08/2022
Raw air quality data	xlsx (08/2020-02/2021) xlsx (03/2021-11/2021) Updated as of 03/17/2021	xlsx (08/2020-02/2021) xlsx (03/2021-11/2021) Updated as of 03/04/2022	xlsx (08/2020-02/2021) xlsx (03/2021-12/2021) Updated as of 03/04/2022

Portable Laboratory - Phase 3

Date range of monitoring data: April 2023 to Present

The portable laboratory is using professional-grade air monitoring equipmentnt to collect data to determine what type of air pollution sources are impacting the community. The Phase 3 laboratory is located at Fern Bacon Middle School (link to air monitoring locations map). Real-time air quality data, such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (2.5 micron and smaller), and black carbon, can be viewed and downloaded at https://aqview.arb.ca.gov/map.

In July 2023, the District deployed instruments to collect detailed air quality information to determine the chemical properties of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. These measurements are taken every six (6) days. Samples are then sent to an air quality laboratory to determine the concentrations of specific pollutants. Results are available for download in the table below.

	Speciated PM10	Speciated PM2.5	VOC TO-11A Analysis	VOC TO-14A Analysis	VOC TO-15 Analysis
Sample lab report with guides on how to read the data
	pdf	pdf	pdf	pdf	pdf
Laboratory analysis document
July 2023- Dec 2023	zip	zip	zip	zip	zip
Jan 2024- June 2024	zip	zip	zip	zip	zip
Raw air quality data
July 2023- Dec 2023	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx
Jan 2024- June 2024	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx	xlsx

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