AIR QUALITY
PROJECT
The Strathcona Area Air Quality Study is a two-year air quality monitoring initiative undertaken to better understand current
air quality levels in and around the Strathcona neighbourhood, impacts of port-related emissions on air quality, and to identify opportunities for improvements.
To contact the Air Quality Working Group, e-mail: AQProject@strathcona-residents.org
The final report for the two-year Strathcona Area Air Quality Study is complete. A two-page summary will soon be available for release. We’re planning to hold a public forum in late April to discuss the findings and potential mitigations, including getting high polluting diesel trucks off the road, advocating for ships to connect to shore…
A report on the first-year results from the Strathcona Area Air Quality Study has just been released – and some of it is concerning. All nine monitors measuring Nitrogen Dioxide exceeded the annual average Metro Vancouver Ambient Air Quality Objective of 17 ppb. On a few days, the monitor beside the Burrard Inlet Rail Line…
In Jan. 2023, the Port of Vancouver (working with the SRA, Metro Vancouver, UBC, and Vancouver Coastal Health) began a two-year air quality study of our neighbourhood. The study involves assessing data from 18 monitors placed in and around Strathcona and adjacent areas monitoring fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), and carbon…
The Port recently released a report on the first quarter (Jan-Mar 2023) results of their two-year study of Strathcona air quality. Here’s a link to the first quarter report. Very briefly, this initial data found that in the first quarter of 2023, average concentrations of NO2 (which comes primarily from diesel exhaust) and PM2.5 (which…
Since 2008, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) has been trying to reduce emissions from older diesel trucks that were put in service before current air emissions technologies were required. Emissions from these older trucks are a major source of nitrogen oxide, black carbon and particulate matter, which have been proven to cause a growing list of…
The SRA will be hosting an Air Quality Forum on Sunday, Oct. 23, from 1-4 PM at the nə́c̓aʔmat ct (Strathcona) library. The Forum will feature speakers from Metro Vancouver, UBC, and the Port to discuss the health effects of air pollution, local pollutants and pollution levels, the community air quality monitoring study that we’ve started…
In August, the VFPA reached out to the SRA asking for a letter of support for their Rolling Truck Age Program, which in brief prohibits diesel trucks older than a certain age from entering the Port. The goal is to get older, more polluting trucks off the road. Here’s a link with more details. After…
The Air Quality monitors have arrived and the process of finding hosts will begin within the next month. We’re preparing info sheets which we will send out once they’re ready. In the meantime, we’re still looking for residents to host monitors as part of both this and a concurrent UBC study. Click here for details. We’ll…
UBC Strathcona and Downtown Eastside Air Quality Monitoring Project A group of UBC grad students will be running an air quality study in parallel with the SRA/Port study. They are currently seeking residential homes to host monitors between February and August of this year. Below is info about their study and the specific monitor they…
The AQ Steering Committee, which includes representatives from the SRA, the Port’s Environmental Team, Metro Vancouver, UBC and VCH, have selected 13 preliminary locations for AQ monitors. Here’s a map. The hope is to place monitors in all of these locations, but that will be influenced by budget and the ability to find organizations, businesses…