Air quality monitoring station on the way for Aberdeen

KAMLOOPS – Kamloops will again have a second air quality monitoring station, this time in the upper Aberdeen area.

The mobile air quality monitoring station, a joint project between the Ministry of Environment, KGHM Ajax Mining and School District 73, will continuously measure air quality and weather patterns including coarse particulate matter, fine particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides, wind speed, wind direction and air temperature.

In June a funding agreement between the ministry and the mining company was completed to cover the costs associated with installing the station. The company will cover the costs of maintenance and twice-yearly audits of the particulate matters and nitrogen oxides monitors.

The air station will be owned and operated by the ministry, which will be responsible for all maintenance, calibration, and collection and quality assurance of data.

This project has been in the works since last year, but it took more than a year to secure a location. Construction has now begun and the monitor is expected to be up and running by the beginning of September.

The data will be used for ongoing air quality research in the Kamloops airshed and for baseline data to be used for future air quality monitoring if the proposed Ajax Mine receives approval to proceed.

The new station will remain in the Aberdeen location for at least two years after which the ministry will decide whether to keep it there, modify it, or move the station elsewhere.

The only other air quality monitoring station is located downtown. A mobile station was previously located at the North Shore fire hall from June 2011 to October 2013.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.