The efficacy of citizen science air monitoring for building public awareness of exposures in a US Caribbean urban neighborhood impacted by heavy industrial contamination
A research partnership with a Puerto Rico-based regional consortium, Desarrollo Integral del Sur, Inc. (DISUR), was developed to determine the challenges and benefits of low-cost AQ sensors for citizen science. EPA developed a unique low-cost multi-pollutant sensor pod that was provided to the community group and the training/tools needed for its operation. The citizens self-organized a community effort to conduct approximately 5 months of intensive AQ monitoring in residential areas of Guayanilla and Peñuelas, Puerto Rico having little historical data on spatial variability. The citizens successfully completed the intensive data collections, summarization of quality assurance checks, and database development. The study provided environmental justice communities in Peñuelas and Guayanilla, as well as surrounding communities, an awareness of local air quality conditions and opportunities for citizen scientists to gain extensive experience in use of emerging sensor technologies. The collaboration provided EPA an opportunity to evaluate low-cost sensor performance under harsh environmental conditions (high relative humidity in a coastal environment).
Project URL: https://www.epa.gov/air-research/citizen-science-air-monitoring-puerto-rico-fact-sheet
Geographic Scope: Puerto Rico
Project Status: Complete - not recruiting volunteers
Participation Tasks: Data analysis, Data entry, Learning, Site selection and/or description, Specimen/sample collection,
Start Date: 10/1/2016
Project Contact: Williams.ronald@epa.gov
Federal Government Sponsor:
Other Federal Government Sponsor:
Fields of Science: Education, Health and medicine
Intended Outcomes: A research partnership with a Puerto Rico-based regional consortium, Desarrollo Integral del Sur, Inc. (DISUR), was developed to determine the challenges and benefits of low-cost AQ sensors for citizen science. EPA developed a unique low-cost multi-pollutant sensor pod that was provided to the community group and the training/tools needed for its operation. The citizens self-organized a community effort to conduct approximately 5 months of intensive AQ monitoring in residential areas of Guayanilla and Peñuelas, Puerto Rico having little historical data on spatial variability. The citizens successfully completed the intensive data collections, summarization of quality assurance checks, and database development. The study provided environmental justice communities in Peñuelas and Guayanilla, as well as surrounding communities, an awareness of local air quality conditions and opportunities for citizen scientists to gain extensive experience in use of emerging sensor technologies. The collaboration provided EPA an opportunity to evaluate low-cost sensor performance under harsh environmental conditions (high relative humidity in a coastal environment).