The City Of Portland And Maine DEP Team Up To Monitor Air Quality

From the City of Portland:

September 13 2019

The City of Portland & Maine DEP Team Up to Monitor Air Quality

The City of Portland and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection are teaming up to install an air quality monitor in the West End neighborhood. This means that Maine DEP will now monitor two sensors in Portland as the City has long had one located in Deering Oaks Park. The sensors monitor air quality 24-hours a day and capture the same data as the ones located in South Portland.

The City sought to install an additional air quality monitor as part of its smart cities effort and climate action planning work. The data will give the community more actionable information about where our air quality issues are in Portland and what we can do as a community to improve air quality.

“I’d like to thank the Maine DEP for working together with us on this issue as we strive to ensure that our air quality in Portland is healthy,” said City Manager Jon Jennings. “We are committed to ensuring that we’re collecting accurate information and data to inform our work in an effort to improve the quality of life for those who live, work and visit Portland.”

The City also added an odor category to its See Click Fix customer service tool that allows citizens to easily report quality of life issues. Issues reported via See Click Fix will be shared with Maine DEP. So far, 48 issues have been reported in the West End and Downtown neighborhoods.

This press release was produced by the City of Portland. The views expressed here are the author’s own.