Staff
A study confirms air quality measured at the Tiverton air monitoring station reflects the larger picture of air quality across Grey Bruce.
The Grey Bruce Health Unit and the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (Ministry) conducted a study looking at ambient air quality in Grey Bruce. In a four-month period in the summer of 2015, a mobile air quality monitoring unit, called an Airpointer (see photo), was set up in three locations in Grey Bruce (Owen Sound, Hanover and Northern Bruce Peninsula).The portable unit measured ambient concentrations of three common air pollutants: ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter. The data collected at the three sites matched the data collected at the same time at the Ministry’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI)* Tiverton air monitoring station. These findings confirm that measurements collected at the Tiverton air monitoring station can be considered representative of measurements of common air pollutants across Grey Bruce.
“AQHI” refers to “Air Quality Health Index”. This is a tool developed by Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada. The tool combines monitoring station data for common air pollutants in order to calculate a health risk score ranging from 1 (low risk) to 10 (very high risk). The public can use these scores to make decisions about activities related to both protecting their health and reducing emissions. In Ontario, air quality data used to calculate local AQHI values are gathered by the MOECC.
In addition to the consistency of results across the region, the results of the study also show that air quality was very good during the sampling period. The Air Quality Health Index values were in the “low risk” category approximately 94% of the time with the remaining hours in the “moderate risk” category.
“We are very pleased with these results. They confirm that we have a reliable source of air quality monitoring data in Tiverton that is representative of the entire region,” said Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hazel Lynn. “The study also affirms the positive working partnership enjoyed between the Grey Bruce Health Unit and the local district office of the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.”
The full report, Grey-Bruce Air Quality Study 2015,can be viewed on the Public Health Grey-Bruce website.
