- Dearborn launched a text-based air quality alert program to protect public health.
- The program, funded by MiNextCities, has placed monitors in pollution-heavy areas to track harmful pollutants.
- This effort aims to educate residents, influence city planning, and empower community advocacy for cleaner air.
The city of Dearborn announced an air monitoring program this week that will provide residents with air quality alerts via text message.
City officials say the monitoring network will give residents crucial information for taking measures to protect their health and to weigh in on issues like industrial air permits.
It’s one part of a broader effort to prioritize public health and rein in pollution, the city said in a statement. For example, the monitoring data could help inform the city’s master planning process, which could make changes to truck routing and buffers for industry.
“Dearborn residents are the experts of their experiences, and they understand the air quality in their neighborhoods best,” Ali Abazeed, chief public health officer and director of the Dearborn Department of Public Health, said in the statement. “This network will allow us to validate that lived experience, understand disparities across our city, and focus future work on improving air quality for all.”
The monitors, funded by the state’s MiNextCities program, have been installed across Dearborn, with six in the city’s south and east ends. These areas face significant air pollution from industrial sources like truck traffic, the Cleveland Cliffs Steel Corp, and the Dearborn Industrial Generation natural gas plant.
“A guiding philosophy for our department is, how are we serving people who are closest to the pain?” Samir Deshpande, environmental health manager for the Dearborn Department of Public Health, told Planet Detroit.
According to the state’s environmental justice screening tool MiEJScreen, which looks at pollution and socioeconomic factors, large parts of Dearborn are in the top 10 to 20 percent of Michigan communities most impacted by environmental hazards.
The Detroit-based company JustAir worked with the city to install the monitors, all of which monitor for particulate matter pollution and nitrogen dioxide.
PM 2.5 and PM 10, both forms of particulate matter, come from sources like construction sites, roads, smokestacks and fires. PM 2.5, or fine particulate matter, is linked to cardiopulmonary problems and premature mortality, while PM 10 is associated with the worsening of respiratory diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. Nitrogen dioxide primarily comes from the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles or industry and can aggravate respiratory diseases, especially asthma.
Two monitors at Levagood Park, on the west side of the city, and 1600 Industrial St, on the east side, will track ozone pollution.
Ozone pollution, which is formed by the chemical reaction of various pollutants from vehicles, factories and other sources, is associated with respiratory problems and can increase the frequency of asthma attacks. This summer, the Environmental Protection Agency found southeast Michigan met federal guidelines for ozone pollution for the first time since 2018, after Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy successfully lobbied the agency to disregard air quality data from two days in 2022 that EGLE said were affected by wildfire smoke
JustAir also worked with Dearborn to develop a display for the air monitor at Levagood Park, which will indicate the current air quality index reading with lights corresponding to the index’s color-coded scale for pollution levels ranging from ‘good’ to ‘hazardous.’
“The whole purpose is to make sure residents have an easier experience of understanding the air they breathe,” Darren Riley, co-founder and CEO of JustAir, told Planet Detroit.
Residents can also check the monitors on the JustAir website, and can sign up to receive text alerts when the AQI rises above 101 or is ”Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.” The system will send an all-clear message when the AQI falls below 50.
Deshpande said the city is looking to modify the alert system further so residents can choose a specific monitor from which to receive alerts.
What’s next for Dearborn air quality?
The next priority for the city will be reaching out to residents about the monitoring network and working with community and religious organizations to educate residents on how to use the information to protect their health, Deshpande said. For example, residents may choose to exercise only on good air days or school administrators may decide to hold recess inside on bad air days.
Samra’a Luqman, a member of Concerned Residents for South Dearborn, told The Detroit News that she sees some value in the air monitors but wants to see the city do more to protect residents by rezoning parcels to protect residential areas from industry or working to control fugitive dust.
“We already have the data that shows that this is a really, really bad and hazardous area to breathe air, basically,” she said. “What steps are people or governments taking after that?”
City officials said the air monitoring network is part of a broader effort to fight pollution in Dearborn, which includes a lawsuit against Pro-V Enterprises LLC, a scrap yard on the east side of Dearborn, that resulted in the company agreeing to invest $1 million in dust suppression efforts
Deshpande added that air monitoring data could also help inform the city’s master planning process, which is just beginning, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of implemented policies.
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s off the table,” he said of the planning process, which could involve putting new truck routes in place, creating greenspace or changing zoning rules around buffers for industrial facilities.
He added that more widely available air monitoring data could also inform citizen efforts to influence permits for industrial facilities or other decisions.
Check out Planet Detroit’s Air Violation Tracker to see which polluters are violating their air permits.
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“We see this as one tool to empower residents and equip them to take some measure of control over their own health, but then also to come back and lobby us, lobby the state, lobby the county, and have some more data to back them up,” Deshpande said. Anyone can sign up for air quality alerts through the JustAir website at JustAir.app/SignUp.