The Air We Breathe
The Cheverly Air Quality Monitoring Project
Statewide air quality monitors may not adequately capture local conditions. The Cheverly Mayor and Town Council have partnered with University of Maryland scientists for air quality monitoring in Cheverly and its environs.
Follow the implementation of the project.
Learn more about air pollution and air quality monitoring.
Volunteer to help with the project.
The Air Quality Monitoring Project Expands
The Air Quality Monitoring Project is expanding to cover the Route 50-Sheriff Road-Kenilworth Ave Quadrant. An in-person workshop was held on Thursday, December 7th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Cedar Heights Community Center to hear about this Air Quality Monitoring project for the Route 50-Sheriff Road-Kenilworth Ave Quadrant, and implications for public health. University of Maryland PhD students Vivek Ravichandran and Blean Girma led the presentation on low-cost real-time air monitors and how community members can become "neighborhood scientists." Tad Aburn, Formerly the Director of the Air and Radiation Administration at the Maryland Department of the Environment, spoke on policy and enforcement. The workshop discussed how the air quality data can be used by the research team and community advisory board, as well as all quadrant residents.
View the presentation and meeting notes.
Air Sensors
The Purple Air sensors are connected to Purple Air’s database via WiFi and the data are publicly available.
Follow the results in real time on the PurpleAir map below.
The map also shows PurpleAir sensors installed at private residences.
MDE Targeted Inspection Initiative
Smell something? Hear something? Say something!
The Maryland Department of the Environment wants to hear from you!
MDE’s Air and Radiation Administration is working in partnership with the Town of Cheverly and the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Public Health to implement a local air monitoring program in the Cheverly area using low-cost sensors to look at community scale air quality.
As part of this partnership, MDE has begun to implement a targeted inspection initiative in and around the Cheverly area. MDE will be conducting inspections (on-site and virtually) and random observations(off-site) at potential sources of air pollution in the area.
Read more about the initiative and see the results of targeted inspections.
How to provide your input:
by Phone: (410) 537-3215, or
toll-free in Maryland (800) 633-6101 ext. 3215
Click this Link to Provide Input by Email: MDE Webmaster
Want to Get Involved?
We are seeking volunteers, especially Cheverly high school and college students, who would like to learn about air quality monitoring and help design signs about Cheverly’s AQM project. Cheverly will also participate in UMD’s student citizen science outreach involving mobile Air Flow 2 monitors (see www.plumelabs.com) in the future. Please contact Karen Moe, volunteer Cheverly project liaison for the UMD project, at <kmoe1976@gmail.com> for more information.
What is the Air Quality Monitoring Project?
The Maryland Department of the Environment runs an Ambient Air Monitoring Program which reports current and historical conditions. The MDE air quality monitors nearest Cheverly are from 9 to 20 miles by road from the town. Two monitoring stations in the District of Columbia are about 4 miles from Cheverly.
Concerned about air quality in its immediate vicinity, the Town of Cheverly, together with Capitol Heights, has partnered with the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Laboratory, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland to create a hyper-local air monitoring network of sensors and to analyze the results. These results should provide a baseline for gauging the immediate and cumulative effects of additional industrial development and road traffic.
Air Quality Workshop Series
Air quality workshops on January 30, February 13 and February 27, 2021 introduced the project and covered air quality and health and the uses of air quality monitoring data.
Now you can view the workshop videos.
The Air Quality Monitoring Network
Cheverly’s AQM network includes 26 Purple Air sensors collecting data about particulate matter (PM2.5 microns), a key metric for air pollution.
In addition, Cheverly’s network includes two AeroQual sensors that measure PM2.5, ozone and nitrogen dioxide as well as temperature, relative humidity and dew point. These more comprehensive units use mature sensor technology to measure the common pollutants known to have the greatest impact on urban and suburban communities. Once the AQM sensor network is completely installed, the UMD team will implement analysis software to provide the Town with tools and information to better understand current air quality conditions and potential impacts of future developments. These stationary monitors are placed near industrial sources of concern and spaces of common, public value. The sensors are connected to a power source and Wi-Fi.
A later stage of the project will provide mobile (wearable) Flow 2 sensors from PlumeLabs for student citizen science outreach.
More About the Project
Did You Know?
Cheverly has been concerned about air quality before. Back in 1967, the town looked into the feasibility of suing the District of Columbia about open-air trash burning at the Kenilworth dump, now part of Anacostia Park.
Who is Involved?
The Town of Cheverly has partnered with the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Laboratory, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Sacoby Wilson is the project’s principal investigator and project manager. The University of Maryland team is headed by Jan-Michael Archer with help from other students. Currently the team includes two students, Noah, an incoming UMD freshman and Ngozi, a rising senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. They have been joined by Sophia, another rising senior at ERHS living in Cheverly. Cheverly students who might want to get involved, starting now with sensor implementation and public outreach are welcome to participate.
Karen Moe of the Cheverly Green Infrastructure Committee is the town’s representative to the project’s citizen advisory committee.
Air Pollution and Trees
Some of the air pollution monitors measure the yearly removal of atmospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2) by trees. Our forests play an important role in reducing air pollution. Trees remove pollutants from the air by absorption through leaf stomata and interception by leaves. The forest soil is also a large and important sink for air pollutants. This ecosystem service is especially important due to its effect on human health. The pollutants removed from the air by trees can have many negative effects on human health, causing or exacerbating bronchitis, cardiovascular stress, and asthma. This effect is greater in urban areas, due to a higher concentrations of air pollution in urban areas. See the Maryland Department of Natural Resources "Accounting for Maryland's Ecosystem Services" program. (https://data.imap.maryland.gov/datasets/2b6d2a1729e74511a2ad9490294b25b1_10)
More about Air Quality and Air Quality Monitoring
How does air pollution affect your health? What is particulate matter, anyway? Check out this video for answers.
Maryland Department of the Environment Ambient Air Monitoring Program, Current conditions
American Lung Association State of the Air for Prince George’s County
As of July 12, 2020, the charts show particle pollution significantly reduced from 2012 on, and ozone reduced since 2013. The site still shows a grade of F for high ozone days, but a grade of A for particle pollution.
AirNow is a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control, and tribal, state, and local air quality agencies. In the case of Cheverly, it is MDE. You can request data for Cheverly, but it will still come up as above, “Hyattsville”.
EPA's EnviroFlash service gives you instant information that you can customize for your own needs, allowing you to protect the health of yourself and your family. Air quality information allows you to adjust your lifestyle when necessary on unhealthy air quality days. Up-to-date air quality information is especially helpful for those with sensitivities, such as the young, people with asthma, and the elderly.