Fort Air Partnership (FAP), the organization that monitors the air local residents breathe, released fourth quarter Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) results today. Results show air quality in and around Alberta’s Industrial Heartland was of low risk to health the majority of the time from October 1 to December 31, 2017.
With the addition of an air monitoring station in the town of Redwater in November, six of FAP’s air quality monitoring stations now collect data that is used by the Government of Alberta in calculating hourly AQHI values, plus an AQHI forecast for the region. Risk to health increases as the index level rises.
AQHI at FAP’s six stations registered low risk readings at least 93% of the time, with Lamont County having the highest percentage of low risk readings and Fort Saskatchewan the lowest. Of the 11,822 hours AQHI values were calculated, only one hour reached the high risk level. This occurred in Gibbons on December 22 and was caused by an unknown localized source, which given the season this may have been due to idling vehicles or fireplace smoke.
*The new Redwater station began reporting the AQHI on November 1, 2017.
Local residents can check the forecast and daily AQHI on-line. FAP’s website also has a live data feed of a variety of substances FAP measures, and weekly, quarterly and annual AQHI results.