The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is kicking off Air Quality Awareness Week by unveiling a Community Air Monitoring Vehicle.
This is a one-of-a-kind custom built vehicle in the United States that is configured specifically for Connecticut to detect and record in real-time the concentration of 16 different air pollutants.
DEEP says the goal here is to further their commitment to protecting air quality, fostering community engagement through education and promoting environmental justice.
The vehicle's reveal is also timely given the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air Report, which was released about two weeks ago and showed multiple counties in Connecticut got worse this year.
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"Using this vehicle, we can measure the ambient concentration of toxic gases of particulate matter of greenhouse gases," said Director of Air Quality Enforcement Jake Felton. "If you see behind the vehicle, we have our own ambient air monitoring station or 14 at the stations throughout the state. The GMAT vehicle will fill the geographic gas, but everywhere between those 14 air monitoring stations."
DEEP said the vehicle should be getting out in the state a couple of times a week to monitor the air quality.
