AirBeat is a pilot project sponsored by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifically for the community
of Roxbury. If AirBeat proves successful in Roxbury, it could become
a recipe for addressing air pollution issues in many urban areas across
the country.
AirBeat is one of many pilot projects funded by the EPA under a program
called Environmental
Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT). The
purpose of EMPACT is to make timely environmental information available
to communities in a format that is useable and easy to understand. In
the past, this information was usually technical and took weeks or months
to become publicly available. However, with the advent of new technologies
and the Internet, environmental data can be made available to the public
within minutes or hours. This allows people to make informed, day-to-day
decisions about their lives that can protect their health and the environment.
Most of the data for AirBeat comes from a new air monitoring station located
on Harrison Avenue, two blocks east of Dudley Square. Click on one of
the links below to see pictures of the site:
Realtime data on the AirBeat website (and hotline) are nearly always accurate. A computer program automatically screens the data for values that are likely to be erroneous. However, before the data can be considered fully "validated" it must be reviewed by a trained professional for quality assurance purposes. For this reason, AirBeat's realtime data should be considered provisional or preliminary. Nonetheless, the realtime data are generally of good quality and are being shared with the public through this pilot project because of the value it may hold for the community.
A number of communities throughout the United States have expressed interest in beginning projects similar to AirBeat. EPA has produced a handbook to help interested communities and organizations learn more about AirBeat and to provide them with the technical information they need to develop their own programs. The Technology Transfer and Support Division of the EPA Office of Research and Development's (ORD's) National Risk Management Research Laboratory initiated the development of this handbook in collaboration with EPA's Office of Environmental Information. ORD, working with AirBeat's project partners, produced the handbook to leverage EMPACT's investment in the project and minimize the resources needed to implement similar projects in new areas.
The handbook is available here as a PDF file. To order a printed copy or CD-ROM of the handbook, or to see other EPA Technology Transfer documents, visit the EPA website.
Finally, although EPA funding is an essential part of the AirBeat project, it would not be possible without the hard work and close cooperation of the following local environmental organizations:
Suffolk County Conservation District
Alternatives for Community & Environment
Harvard School of Public Health
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Northeast States for Coordinated Air Management (NESCAUM)
