Third quarter Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) results show air quality in and around Alberta’s Industrial Heartland has been generally good so far in 2016.
Five of FAP’s air monitoring stations collects data that is used by the Government of Alberta in the calculation of a daily AQHI. From January 1 to September 30, the index at those stations registered low risk readings the vast majority of the time. Bruderheim had the highest percentage of low risk readings and Fort Saskatchewan had the least. However all stations were in the low risk category more than 92% of the time.
Only two stations, Gibbons and Fort Saskatchewan, had AQHI readings in the high risk category so far this year, but just for 21 hours. The Fort Saskatchewan station had a very high risk reading for three hours. FAP Executive Director Nadine Blaney explained that the high risk numbers and some of the moderate risk index results were caused by forest fire smoke coming from Fort McMurray and elsewhere earlier in the year. This impacted air quality throughout the entire Capital Region and other areas of the province.
