Wiltshire Council are looking for residents and organisations across the county to join the Wiltshire Community Air Network and host one of 100 air quality monitors for a year.
The project has been launched to fill in gaps in the measurement of PM2.5 in Wiltshire and the data will be used to identify and address pollution hotspots, informing the council’s future strategy for air quality monitoring.
Cllr Paul Sample JP, Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate and Waste, said: ‘We are seeking assistance from local residents and organisations to better understand PM2.5 air pollution in Wiltshire. We aim to recruit 100 volunteers to host air quality sensors for a year and encourage applications from individuals and groups in Wiltshire who are interested in monitoring PM2.5 pollution in their communities.’
‘The data collected will enable us to gain a greater understanding of this type of dangerous air pollution and put us in a stronger position to determine requirements for long-term monitoring and identify ways to reduce pollution.’
People or organisations interested in hosting one of the low cost monitors must be able to mount it between 1.5m and 3m off the ground and ensure it has uninterrupted mains power and Wi-Fi throughout the year. Once the programme ends, the host can keep the monitor.
Live data from the 100 PurpleAir Zen monitors will be publicly available on the PurpleAir real-time map.
To ensure a wide range of places and communities are represented in the project, the council will be allocating a number of sensors to each of the 18 community areas of Wiltshire, based on the size of the population. In each area, the council will prioritise applications from:
1. Schools, including nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools, and tertiary institutions.
2. NHS medical settings, including healthcare centres, hospitals, or GP surgeries.
3. Supported housing providers.
4. Locations near known or suspected sources of PM2.5 pollution.
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