This week is National Air Quality Awareness Week, and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control wants Delawareans to be aware of how air quality is monitored statewide.
Delaware has 11 permanent air quality stations across the state, which continuously monitor the air quality all day every day.
The station on MLK Boulevard in Wilmington monitors the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s six pollutants of greatest concern, which include ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and two sizes of particulate matter.
While Delaware’s air quality is generally good, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control officials say they continue to work to make it better, especially for the state’s most vulnerable populations.
And DNREC’s Secretary Shawn Garvin says high quality scientific data is vital when discussing public health and the environment.
“This is where we collect that data. This is where we are able to make decisions, see what exactly is going on so we [can] figure out how we can mitigate the air quality impacts,” Garvin explained. “Scientific data is really, you know, the foundation of what we do at DNREC.”
Some of those mitigation efforts include educating Delawareans on how to reduce air pollutants in their everyday life, and Garvin says they’re looking into broader solutions, as well.
“We’re looking to see how we can better mitigate transportation issues and really looking to build up our electric vehicle infrastructure in the state so we can try to move to get off fossil fuels and really get onto a more sustainable transportation system,” said Garvin. “And again, that really impacts general air quality as well as climate change.”
But the data isn’t just to help shape public policy.
Jana Pezanowski, Program Manager for the Air Monitoring program at DNREC, says that the air quality stations across the state release data to Delawareans every day.
“We’re collecting data to be able to provide it to citizens and be able to allow them to see what the data quality is in the state of Delaware,” said Pezanowski.
Any Delawarean can access air quality data and make decisions about their health accordingly by visiting AirNow.gov.
