Okotoks residents will soon be able to keep up-to-date on air quality throughout the year.
Okotoks air quality readings will be available online in real-time through equipment operated by the Calgary Region Airshed Zone Society, a non-profit working to monitor the air quality in Calgary and surrounding regions on behalf of the Government of Alberta.
Real-time readings will be available on the Calgary Region Airshed Zone website soon. Readings are currently available for Airdrie and three locations in Calgary.
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 the Calgary Region Airshed Zone Society.
Real-time data will be available on weather conditions and air quality measurements, which focus on air pollutants such as "carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, ozone, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, particulate matter (such as dust and smoke), total hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulphide."
Air quality is measured and presented through the air quality health index, or AQHI.
"The AQHI provides a number from 1 to 10+ to indicate the level of health risk associated with local air quality," according to the Calgary Region Airshed Zone website. "The higher the AQHI number, the greater the health risk and need to take precautions."
More information will be provided once the Okotoks readings go live, which is anticipated to happen early next week.
The organization previously conducted Foothills air quality monitoring in Aldersyde and High River.
Besides the Town of Okotoks and Foothills County, the Calgary Region Airshed Zone'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.
