The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and CountyStat on Wednesday announced the launch of an air quality dashboard on the county’s website.
The new interactive site takes information from ACHD’s air quality monitors and provides it in a user-friendly format that is more easily understandable. Users can choose to look at real-time data or choose historical data and can also sort data by type of pollutant and location of the air quality monitors.
The new dashboard also contains frequently asked questions. It is available on ACHD’s air quality webpage.
“This tool gives people in the public more information about the air quality where they live,” County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a press release. “Often, news stories make it look like the region’s air quality is the air quality throughout the county. This tool allows residents to have a quick snapshot of what the air quality is where they live based on the nearest monitor.”
The “today” tab of the dashboard shows the most recent 24 hours of data from all air quality monitors across the county that measure three common types of air pollution: fine particulate matter – or PM2.5- ozone, and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
The current Air Quality Index (AQI) from each monitor is also part of the dashboard and contains information on what current AQI may have on a person’s health.
The “over time” tab provides information on historical trends for data dating back to January 2016 for most monitors.
“We are very excited to have worked with CountyStat to develop a new and comprehensive tool so that the public can access the most recent air quality data and information,” Health Department Director Dr. Karen Hacker said in a statement. “Public interest in air quality is crucial to improving air quality in Allegheny County. We encourage residents to explore this dashboard and all of its features.