DETROIT – A Detroit neighborhood with some of the worst air pollution in the state is about to finally find out exactly what they’re breathing in.
Local Four reported on this Southwest Detroit community over a year ago when people were fighting to get a concrete company out of their community. Now, thanks to community advocacy and local innovation, progress toward cleaner air is underway.
Thanks to a grant from Michigan Central, a subsidiary of Ford, six air quality monitors will soon detect what’s in the air in the neighborhood, putting out real-time data that anyone can access.
Air quality monitors will analyze the air residents breathe and find out what’s in it and how much.
When we first met the community, they wanted a nearby concrete company to move out. The company stayed with city approval. The people said it’s not just the concrete company that’s impacting the air. They live day after day with some of the worst air quality in the state.
Residents complain of being surrounded by polluters, including constant traffic exhaust from Ambassador Bridge, dust and debris from heavy truck traffic, and industrial activities mixing with residential areas.
“The air quality is terrible,” said Sister Sue Sattler. “My house, I can dust and the next day there’s soot, with the windows closed and everything. I don’t even like to think what it might be composed of.”
How do you fix this problem? The first step is finding out what’s in the air.
With data gathered from the six air quality monitors, residents believe polluters and the city will have to face the facts about the air quality issues in their neighborhood.
The company installing and maintaining the network of monitors is JustAir, an innovator based out of Detroit. At the company’s website JustAir.app -- you can see real-time air quality data collected from the monitor installed at the corner of Rosa Parks and Fort streets, and from the company’s other air quality monitors in Michigan and beyond. JustAir will soon be installing 100 more air quality monitors in Wayne County, in partnership with the county.
Of the newly-installed monitor in SW Detroit, enthusiastic resident Jennifer Giroux said, ”This air quality monitor represents us as a community having the data we need to advocate for just air policies, right, for environmental justice.”
More: Local 4 Investigations