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The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (APCD) has partnered with Parks Alliance of Louisville, Louisville Parks and Recreation, and Louisville Metro Technology Services (MTS) to install an air sensor at Alberta O. Jones Park, Louisville’s newest public park.
The sensor, which is commercially available, measures fine particle pollution and provides live air quality conditions using the Air Quality Index. This information is shared through resources like US EPA's AirNow Fire and Smoke Map, which displays fine particle pollution concentrations from sensors and monitors throughout the country.
The PurpleAir sensor now installed at Alberta O. Jones Park is commercially available.
“People who live in the neighborhoods surrounding Alberta O. Jones Park are keenly interested in air quality and how it impacts their health and quality of life,” said Brooke Pardue, CEO of the Parks Alliance of Louisville. “We are thrilled to partner with APCD to provide the community with a real-time gauge they can check at any time at this ‘people-powered park’.”
“Air sensor projects like this can increase public awareness of air quality issues, provide new data to support our air monitoring work, and help the public reduce their exposure to certain pollutants,” said Rachael Hamilton, director of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District.
The terms "air sensor" and "low-cost air sensor" refer to a variety of air-pollution-measuring technologies that tend to be smaller in size, easier to operate, and less expensive than regulatory equipment used by agencies like APCD at their air monitoring sites.
While there are some limitations associated with sensors, especially in comparison to regulatory equipment, their relative affordability and ease of use helps supports a greater number of sites, which supplements local air monitoring networks and improves understanding of local air quality.
The sensor is located near the playground at Alberta O. Jones Park.
Alberta O. Jones Park is a Louisville Metro public park designed, built, and managed by the nonprofit Parks Alliance of Louisville. Developed through a community-driven planning process, it was created to enhance health and wellbeing—to nurture through nature.
In addition to the support of the Parks Alliance of Louisville and Louisville Parks and Recreation, this project was made possible by Louisville Metro’s ongoing efforts to provide WiFi at public parks.
“We believe that ubiquitous internet access across our parks unlocks new opportunities that will allow our community to thrive, and these air sensors are perfect demonstration of the capabilities that internet in our parks can unlock,” said Chris Seidt, Executive Director of Metro Technology Services. “We now have Wi-Fi available in 14 parks across Louisville, and we’ll be working to install it in all of our parks throughout the rest of this year.”
The citywide Air Quality Index and other data from APCD's air monitoring network can be found 24/7 at louisvilleky.gov/air.
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