Air Quality
The Chumash Community Air Monitoring Network Enhancement Project aims to enhance the Chumash Tribe's and the surrounding community's resilience by detecting air pollutants, notifying the community of hazardous air quality levels, and establishing a baseline for tracking air quality trends on the reservation.
Currently, the Reservation houses 249 residents and 97 homes, surrounded by agricultural activities, busy highways, and an area prone to frequent wildfires. These factors can affect air quality in the Reservation unexpectedly. The air quality program was created to monitor and understand local air quality. Air quality monitoring network on the Reservation helps the Tribe effectively manage resources and advocate for the health of Tribal members within the community.
The Chumash Community Air Monitoring Network Enhancement Project includes monitors containing cost effective sensors that detect Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations, as well as ambient temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed and direction.
The Chumash Community Air Monitoring Network provides real-time air quality information that informs the community of the current air pollution levels on the reservation. With the air quality sensors, SYCEO is able to track the effectiveness of emission reduction practices and other measures that will help improve air quality for the community. Using information collected by the sensors, the SYCEO team is also able to conduct analysis on air quality data to track and predict trends or conditions that lead to harmful air quality.