Community Air Monitoring Plan Guidance
- Community Air Protection Program
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CARB is in the process of revising and updating the Assembly Bill (AB) 617 (Garcia, C., Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017) Program guidance document, known as The Program Blueprint. This website page will be redesigned and updated in 2023 as part of that process.
Community air monitoring plays an important role in supporting effective action to reduce emissions and exposure to criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants within impacted communities. The first step to implementing air monitoring within a community is to prepare a community air monitoring plan that sets out action-focused objectives and details how air monitoring will be conducted to meet those objectives. CARB has defined 14 planning elements that air districts, communities, and others should include in community-specific air monitoring plans developed under the Program. The elements fall into three key areas: (1) determine the air pollution concern the community air monitoring will address; (2) describe how the community air monitoring will be conducted; and (3) identify how the data will support action to reduce air pollution within the community. This page contains information on each of the 14 elements to provide guidance for those developing community air monitoring plans under AB 617.
Community Air Monitoring Plan Elements
Category | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
What is the |
| Establishes community steering committee and documents community involvement |
| Characterizes the air pollution concern within the community | |
| Describes the range of potential resulting actions that air monitoring data will support | |
| Defines what will be measured, when and where it will be measured, and why (e.g. to document highest concentration) | |
| Identifies all parties responsible for air monitoring | |
How will air monitoring be conducted? |
| Establishes level of data quality required to meet objective (e.g. precision, bias, sensitivity) |
| Identifies selected method and suitability of method to meet data quality objectives | |
| Indicates where monitoring will be conducted and the rationale for selecting those areas | |
| Specifies procedures that will be utilized to ensure data is scientifically defensible | |
| Describes how data will be collected, managed, and stored | |
| Lays out the air monitoring timeline and field procedures for those conducting monitoring | |
How will the data be used to take action? |
| Designates a procedure to check that original objectives are being met |
| Outlines approach for analyzing data (e.g. comparing trends, source apportionment) | |
| Establishes how information will be shared with the community, the public, and CARB |
Appendix E of the Statewide Air Monitoring Plan (Blueprint) identifies and describes criteria for air districts and communities that are planning to conduct community air monitoring under the Program.
CARB staff have committed to providing technical support and consultation to communities to help ensure that community air monitoring campaigns produce meaningful results. We will make technical resources such as best management practices, guidance, and sensor evaluation reports. CARB encourages public participation in the process of environmental protection by making its community air monitoring expertise and resources available to community scientists.