Keep up-to-date on air quality throughout the year with real-time data.
Okotoks air quality readings are now available online — and can be accessed on the Calgary Region Airshed Zone website — in real-time through equipment operated by the Calgary Region Airshed Zone Society (CRAZ), a non-profit working to monitor the air quality in Calgary and surrounding regions on behalf of the Government of Alberta.
A portable air monitoring laboratory will be collecting the data from an area between Okotoks Junior High School and Percy Pegler School.
Year-round data collection in Okotoks will continue until July 31, 2025, according to CRAZ.
Real-time data will be available on weather conditions and air quality measurements, which focus on air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen, ozone, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide, particulate matter such as dust and smoke, and total hydrocarbons.
Air quality is measured and presented through the air quality health index, or AQHI, which provides a number from 1 to 10+ to indicate the level of health risk associated with local air quality, according to the CRAZ website.
"We don't have any air monitoring currently in Okotoks that provides that information," said Valerie Ekelund, Town of Okotoks climate change & energy specialist.
"We've been relying on nearby towns that have permanent stations, so it'll be great for us to see kind of how it varies between us and our neighbouring municipalities."
By comparing Okotoks' air quality results with data collected by permanent monitoring stations in other municipalities, the Town can decide whether there is a need for ongoing future monitoring of air quality, Ekelund said.
She said the Town was approached by CRAZ about conducting air quality monitoring, and that the Town is simply providing a site for the project, which is being jointly conducted by CRAZ and Alberta Environment and Protected Areas.
CRAZ conducted air quality monitoring in Foothills County with portable air monitoring laboratories previously stationed in Aldersyde and High River.
Real-time readings in the surrounding area are also currently available for Airdrie and three locations in Calgary.
Besides the Town of Okotoks and Foothills County, CRAZ's members include the cities of Calgary and Airdrie, counties of Willow Creek, Vulcan and Wheatland, improvement districts of Kananaskis and Banff, municipal districts of Rocky View and Bighorn, and the Town of Canmore.
The Calgary Region Airshed Zone is one of 10 airshed zones in Alberta, according to the Clean Air Strategic Alliance.
