About CLEANAIR
The CLEANAIR Project is an EPA-funded community air quality monitoring study, led by the Mystic River Watershed Association in partnership with Air Inc, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), the Cities of Malden and Everett, Boston University, Tufts University, and University of Michigan. The CLEANAIR study aims to understand community concerns about transportation-related air pollution in East Boston, Charlestown, Everett, and Malden and to collect data through long-term and short-term monitoring efforts guided by those concerns.
Now a little over a year into the effort, Project Manager Karina Ramos shares some highlights and what we’re looking forward to in the next year of the project:
By Karina Ramos, Air Quality Project Manager, karina.ramos@mysticriver.org
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
By the numbers:
342 surveys completed — CLEANAIR has a goal of 100 surveys per community. As of June 20, 2024, we had 59 participants in Everett, 120 participants in Malden, 66 participants in Charlestown, and 54 participants in East Boston.
4 in-person and 1 virtual listening sessions held — CLEANAIR hosted 5 listening sessions in the last year designed to educate community members about transportation-related air pollution (TRAP), the health impacts of TRAP, and to engage residents in data collection through a data walk. Residents provided feedback on the preliminary survey data and to help identify locations that may be of interest for short term monitoring. Check out the listening session report here.
11 Community Advisory Board Members convened — Since October 2023, the CLEANAIR Project has recruited 11 community advisory board (CAB) members (young people and adults from each community) and has facilitated three community advisory board meetings. The CAB are integral members of the study, advising and assisting with community outreach, being facilitators at listening sessions, and providing their input on data collection efforts.
In this next year, the CLEANAIR team is looking forward to connecting with more residents about perceptions of air quality in their community. We invite residents who live, work, or attend school in East Boston, Charlestown, Everett, or Malden to please take the CLEANAIR community survey below (<5 minutes)! This survey aims to capture resident’s perceptions of transportation-related air pollution (TRAP) and learn about specific sites of concern such as schools, residential, and recreation areas near high traffic roadways.
Additionally, look out for the CLEANAIR team at community events near you to learn more about the project!
Survey also available in Arabic | Haitian Creole | Portuguese | Simplified Chinese | Spanish | Vietnamese.
monitoring
In the first year of the project, our monitoring team set up a local long-term monitoring network in Charlestown, Everett, and Malden. Monitoring stations in each of these communities are currently collecting data on transportation-related particulate air pollutants including PM10, PM2.5, and ultrafine particles and will remain active for the next two years.
Next up — the monitoring team will be using insight from the community survey, listening sessions, and community advisory board to select locations for short-term (less than a year) data collection projects.
Dr. John Durant, Jennifer Delgado, Mark Albert, and National Parks Service Rangers meet at the site of our long-term monitoring station in Charlestown — Bunker Hill Historical Park.
Our long-term monitoring set-up at 350 Main Street, Malden.
get cleanair updates
Learn more about the project here and join the CLEANAIR email list to receive project updates, opportunities to participate, and resources to learn more about transportation related air pollution.
