Overview
- Seventy-six ground-level monitors went live Wednesday, delivering hourly PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide readings across every district.
- A public dashboard provides neighborhood-level data and alerts, and officials said the system already flagged poor air during a recent fire and on a Code Orange day.
- The solar-powered, weatherproof sensors are cellular-connected and typically spaced about 1.5 miles apart on utility poles for hyperlocal coverage.
- The network operates independently of the city’s 10 monitors that feed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is framed as an environmental justice tool.
- Clarity Movement Co. owns and maintains the sensors with three-year upgrades, the program costs about $90,000 annually via the Philadelphia City Fund, and ozone monitoring is planned for spring.