EMA opens air-quality monitoring station in San Fernando

THE Environmental Management Authority (EMA) has opened an ambient air-quality monitoring network station in San Fernando. It is the fourth in the country and is at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA).

This network was created in 2015 and has branches at Port of Spain, Point Lisas and Signal Hill, Tobago.

In a release, the EMA said San Fernando was selected owing to its population density and the number of "sensitive receptors such as hospitals and schools.

"The suitability of the site was determined using a checklist for siting network developed in-country by the EMA’s Air Unit, based on US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and siting criteria."

The station was installed and commissioned in November and "will provide localised real-time air-quality data for San Fernando and environs.

"The station design is the first of its type in the network, a stand-alone unit of dimensions 2.6 feet wide, two feet deep and four feet high, housing all of the analysers.It said as at the other stations, the pollutants being monitored include particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and ozone.

The criterion for pollutants monitored is that they have known negative effects or impacts on human health and the environment.