By Karina Alvarado and Martha Ortega
Experts investigate air quality in San Mateo due to forest fires and high temperatures in recent months.
The San Mateo County Council, in conjunction with Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) and the Stanford Future Bay Initiative, through the "Our Communities, Our Bay" project, has placed air sensors in homes in East Palo Alto, Redwood City, North Fair Oaks and Belle Haven.
Our Communities, Our Bay" is an academic research project with two objectives: to learn how communities are affected by climate risks and to find technologies and practices that best protect the health of families," says the project's website.
The air sensors, through a mobile application - which is based on the Smoke Sense The Environmental Protection Agency's? website allows users to learn about air quality, wildfires and health risks, as well as providing an opportunity to share their experiences.
These sensors indicate air quality through a color code, with green being the best case, meaning the air quality is excellent, yellow means it is somewhat bad, red means it is bad, and purple means the quality is very bad, allowing families to make decisions about their activities while protecting themselves.
"Air sensor data can help you make decisions to protect your health in the event that air quality worsens," the website notes.
The data collected with the sensors are sent to Sonoma Technology - the company that developed the application - and then shared with researchers.
"It is not a video camera, it is not a camera that will record them, it is something safe," said Martha Ortega and pointed out that the data collected does not endanger the safety of the participants, as it contains codes that do not reveal their names or addresses.
In addition, Ortega pointed out that sleep sensors are also being installed, which provide information on how users are sleeping.
However, the benefits of having an air sensor from this project at home not only contribute to health, but also to the economy of those who join this research, as "Our Project, Our Bay" offers a compensation of up to $290 and the opportunity to enter a raffle for an iPad Pro or $1,000.
For more information, interested parties may access the following web site https://www.ourcommunitiesourbay.org/nuestro-proyecto.
You can find out the air quality in your area at https://www.airnow.gov.
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