EPA Community Monitoring Project

An EPA-funded collaborative project administered by GASP with our partners at CREATE Lab, Allegheny Clean Air Now, Valley Clean Air Now, Clean Water Fund, and Protect Elizabeth Township

Allegheny County residents routinely wake up to some of the worst air quality in the country and have logged nearly 70,000 complaints since the 2016 launch of Carnegie Mellon University’s crowd-sourcing app SmellPGH describing noxious odors and associated physical symptoms ranging from itchy eyes and throats to headaches and breathing difficulties.

Despite regulatory air quality monitors and a growing network of citizen-owned low-cost sensors, data gaps still exist making it difficult for residents to know exactly what pollutants they’re inhaling - an environmental justice issue seven local nonprofits are teaming up to help solve thanks to a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Project Partners

The project is designed to seek data-driven information regarding air toxics and emissions from industrial facilities located near our monitoring sites. This data will be gathered through the monitoring and sampling of outdoor air at designated sites. The goal of this project is to improve the communities’ understanding of air quality, increase interest and community participation in ongoing air monitoring, and grow resident participation with the government and other authorities working to protect public health and air quality in the project area. Additionally, the results of the study will be presented to EPA and regulatory officials in an effort to seek new ways to identify and potentially mitigate excessive air pollution levels. This Project is funded by an American Rescue Plan grant made available through the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

As reports and other updates become available, we will share them here.

Contact Project Staff