PORTLAND, Ore. — Finding out how healthy the air is in your community will soon be getting easier.
Over the next year, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will double the number of air quality monitors across the state.
The agency is able to do that thanks to a brand new air-quality sensor that costs about one third of what a traditional sensor costs.
The monitor, called sensOR, is able to measure particulates in the air that are less than 1/25 the size of a human hair.
These are the pollutants that often come from vehicle emissions or from wood-burning stoves in the winter and wildfires in the summer. They are particulates that can be dangerous for some groups.
"They can actually be absorbed down into the lungs and cause health issues with certain folks... lung concerns and heart concerns and things like that. So particulate monitoring is important for that perspective," explained Tom Roick, the DEQ's air quality monitoring manager.
It's important to point out, while the new monitors measure some pollution, they do not measure toxins such as heavy metals. The DEQ says it has set up air toxic monitors in areas of concern to address that issue.