Network of air monitors as part of 'community science project'

We need to know what we are living with, and we cannot rely on the state to do their job to protect us and our health. That's the bottom line, Campers. So, we have begun to install Purple Air monitors throughout the Fore River Basin. We currently have 2 installed and plan to install 8 more in the coming weeks. These monitors measure PM 2.5 in real time. You can view a live update of our Quincy Point monitor here.

Many thanks to CARCS for getting us started, many thanks to all of those who have donated for more monitors, many thanks to those offering their homes as stations, and many thanks to our Board Member Robert Kearns for all of his work to get them installed. Many hands make light work.

You can read more about this effort in The Patriot Ledger - Fore River Basin air monitors called 'community science project' (link)

Excerpt: ‘“This is a community science project,” said Robert Kearns, a member of Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station. “We’re installing 10 monitors around the basin as a public service for the public to get air-quality data in their hands and phones and check it out. It’s a holistic approach.”

The citizens group recently installed the first air monitor, made by the company PurpleAir, at a home in Quincy Point. The monitors measure and report fine particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.

“I’ve lived in the basin my whole life, and we didn’t know what was in the air,” Kearns, of East Braintree, said. “We’ll smell funny things, but now we’ll get this data and get it into folks’ hands.”

Kearns said the project will focus on environmental justice neighborhoods, or areas with minority and low-income populations that often take the brunt of industrialization.

Two more monitors will soon be installed in the Germantown neighborhood of Quincy and in East Braintree. Citizens Against the Rehoboth Compressor Station donated three air monitors, which cost about $250 each. 

Kearns said Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station raised about $1,700 to buy more monitors, including a donation from the climate advocacy group Mothers Out Front.

"We've had a great show of support from around the area, so we’re thankful," he said.” (The Patriot Ledger, 2021)