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The Fort Bend County Environmental Organization hopes that the data sharing will prompt officials to install regulatory air monitors that can be used to enforce air quality standards.
Fort Bend Environmental is installing three additional air monitors to share data with the EPA. The Fort Bend County Environmental Organization has been using air monitors to measure pollution for several years.
Known as PurpleAir monitors, the devices track pm 2.5 – particulate matter that can contribute to health conditions like heart disease and asthma. They’ve been used by neighborhoods across Houston to track conditions throughout the city.
Organizers hope that the initiative will lead officials to install regulatory air monitors. While PurpleAir monitors can help residents get a sense of air quality issues in their communities, data from these devices can’t be used to regulate emissions from a facility. However, data from regulatory tracking devices can be used to enforce air quality standards.
“That’s what we’re trying to accomplish here: get enough data to show them that we really need some regulatory monitors based on the pollution,” said Fort Bend Environmental chair and founder Donna Thomas.
The group has installed an air monitor in Missouri City, near the Fort Bend Toll Road to assess its environmental impact. They also plan to place air monitors in Richmond and Rosenberg to track the effects of the W.A. Parish Plant, which was named the dirtiest coal plant in Texas last year.
Particulate matter from power plants also ends up in groundwater and impacts wildlife, said Fort Bend Environmental Vice Chair Vero Piña — it’s not just air quality that’s impacted.
“It’s air, water, land, you know – it’s all connected,” he said.
Know more about Natalie Weber, Fort Bend County Bureau
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