The Town of Okotoks is excited to announce a new partnership with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and the Calgary Region Airshed Zone (CRAZ) to bring a new portable air monitoring station (PAML) to our community. Located at 63 Wilson Street, between Okotoks Junior High School and Percy Pegler School, this station marks the first of its kind in Okotoks, enabling us to monitor air quality in areas with little or no previous monitoring, supporting CRAZ’s long-term strategy for ambient air quality monitoring.
“This initiative is a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to protect the health and well-being of our residents,” says Valerie Ekelund, the Town’s climate change & energy specialist. “Having this monitoring station in Okotoks gives us valuable data to see how our air quality compares with other regions and helps us make more informed decisions about our environment and community.”
The PAML will be stationed in Okotoks until July 2025, continuously collecting high-quality data that will be used to create a comprehensive snapshot of our air quality. This data will contribute to the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) for our area, a tool developed by Environment Canada and Health Canada that reports outdoor air quality on a simple scale from 1 to 10.
Residents will be able to access real-time air quality information through the Government of Alberta’s AQHI website and the Calgary Region Airshed Zone’s website, empowering them to stay informed about air quality and make decisions about outdoor activities based on the latest data.