Air quality sensors installed in half of N.W.T. communities

A program that aims to deploy small air quality monitoring sensors in all N.W.T. communities is about halfway toward its goal — providing residents real time information about how clean the air is outside.

"This is ground-breaking technology," said Dr. Kami Kandola, the territory's chief public health officer. "Before this, we had no way of assessing by quantity the level of impact wildfire smoke could have on the small communities."

There are air quality monitoring stations in Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Fort Simpson already, but the equipment is expensive and requires a specialist to maintain it. 

The PurpleAir branded sensors, however, are cheaper and don't require much skill to use. The data they collect is available to people in real time on an online map.

The Community Based Air Monitoring Project was launched in the N.W.T. last year where three small sensors were installed in Yellowknife and one each in Tuktoyaktuk, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson. 

But John McKay, who has been running the N.W.T.'s air quality monitoring network for more than 25 years, said the program got a boost a few months ago when the Department of Health and Social Services started to champion it. 

A member of the health department is currently travelling to communities, educating people on the devices and installing them too, said McKay, who works N.W.T's Department of Environment and Climate Change.

According to PurpleAir's map, there are sensors in Behchokǫ̀, Fort McPherson, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Hay River, Jean Marie River, Lutselk'e, Sambaa K'e, Tulita, Wekweètì, Whatì, Wrigley, Yellowknife and Tuktoyaktuk.

"I'm very pleased with the efforts of health, and the technological advances that are allowing us to get air quality monitoring in places that were basically almost impossible," said McKay.

The sensors

PurpleAir's classic sensor is 3.5 inches in diameter and five inches tall. The small devices measure fine particulate matter — known as PM2.5 — emitted by wildfire smoke, and need WiFi to put that data on the map where the public can see it. 

The values range from 0 to 300, and the map offers guidance to people based on what the air quality is. While values between 0 and 50 are considered "satisfactory" and 51-100 is "acceptable," a value of between 201-300 puts everyone at risk of health effects, the website says.

Each device costs about $500, said McKay, but the territorial government is receiving them from the federal government for free. 

"It gives us readings in places that we otherwise couldn't get them. Scientists have a hard time filling in these large gaps, some geographical gaps, where they don't have equipment they kind of have to guess. Putting these in those places gives us more confidence in the data in every kind of inch or corner of the country." 

The health risks

Kandola says data from the sensors gives people information to make decisions about their health. 

"They have control. They can go onto their phones, they can go into their computers, and they can see what the level of fine particles are for their specific community," she said. 

"Those who are quite sensitive can decide, you know, 'I'm not going to go exercise outdoors, I'm going to stay inside, I'm going to make sure I'm stocked up on my medications'."

Kandola said breathing smoky air is more dangerous for people who are young, elderly, pregnant or who have heart and lung conditions. Summer heat also poses risk to these people, she added. 

"They're breathing heavy to compensate, but breathing in smoke-filled air. So it's a double whammy. The heat causes their pulse to go up and just to try and cool themselves down and then when they're breathing faster, they're also breathing the smoke that can impact their lungs and heart as well." 

While the sensors are a useful tool in determining air quality, air purifiers with HEPA filters can help improve the air quality in a home. To stay cool, Kandola says going to a place with air conditioning is ideal — but wearing loose fitting clothing, drinking lots of water, and putting cool cloths or ice packs on your neck or wrists can help too.