MADISON, Wis. — Madison is installing dozens of air quality monitors around the city.
The first air quality monitor was installed at the Kennedy Heights Community Center. The goal is to give those who live in the area the ability to be at the forefront of environmental decision-making in their neighborhood.
Elsa Caetano runs a summer camp at the Kennedy Heights Community Center. She is the camp’s executive director.
“We try to do most of our programming outdoors,” said Caetano. “We have a heavy focus on outdoor programming and environmental education.”
To meet that goal, Caetano worked with the city to get an air quality monitor installed at the community center in July.
She said one of the reasons she wanted it here was Wisconsin’s experience with the Canadian wildfire smoke in 2023.
“Having this monitor here and having access to the data that the monitor will produce or generate will help us have that information off-hand and also share with the parents to say, ‘Hey, we are going to ask your kids to wear masks because the air is poor at this time,’” said Caetano.
Gabriel Saiz is the sustainability program coordinator for the City of Madison.
He said they will have 65 air quality monitors installed around the city by the end of the year. Saiz also said they’ll have a way for the public to track the data from the monitors in 2025.
“Air pollution is a really important thing to consider,” said Saiz. “It can influence whether or not you are going to go out and exercise for the day for example or whether or not you need to take personal protective actions or measures for yourself when you go outside. We really want to make sure that the data we are giving to people is as accurate as possible.”
Caetano said they are grateful to have the first air quality monitor in Madison.
“It heightens the work that we are already doing with the kids as far as environmental education, awareness and advocacy,” she said.
For Caetano, it’s a way to protect kids from the effects of poor air quality while teaching them about what causes it and the impact on their health.