Great Plains Air Zone

What's in Your Lungs? GPAZ is monitoring more. www.gpaz.org

GPAZ answered some questions for local media on the fire smoke in SK. https://www.cjme.com//some-smoke-but-few-worries-in-regin/.

The Great Plains Air Zone will be having a chat with CBC's Stefani Langenegger tomorrow morning (interview at 7:12am, not sure if it's live). We will be talking about our regions air quality, a little about how COVID has affected it and GPAZ in general. Tune In.

This years Great Plains Air Zone non-profit Annual General Meeting (AGM), will be taking place on August 12th, 2020 at 8:15am. This year our AGM will be via WebEx, an invitation is being sent to members out prior to August with details. The AGM is an opportunity for members to learn more about the work that GPAZ has done over the past year, discuss future direction, and vote on key items. The public are welcome to attend and learn as well. If you would like a WebEx invitation please send a request via facebook to this page or an email to [email protected].

In celebration of Clean Air Day, Great Plains Air Zone and the University of Regina’s Dr. John Archer Library are partnering to make air quality data openly accessible for education and research purposes. Stored in Archer Library’s Dataverse data repository, the datasets contain precise air quality measures from GPAZ’s three air quality monitoring stations located in East Regina, Belle Plaine and Yorkton. The data will be beneficial to researchers and students interested in s...tudying air quality in Saskatchewan. "Our website, www.GPAZ.org, has real time Air Quality Health Index readings, weather and pollutant data available at a number of locations in the Great Plains region but we also wanted to make the detailed historical data available as well, said Murray Hilderman, Executive Director of GPAZ. "The Great Plains Air Zone members from industry, government, health and environmental organizations are all excited for the data to be available world-wide through the Dataverse repository. Our members know that the high quality data will be of use to those studying air quality, to find better ways to understand air pollutant behaviour and to look for ways to improve air quality for the health of all," added Hilderman. The Dr. John Archer Library is pleased to partner with Great Plains Air Zone to provide students, faculty and the people of Saskatchewan with access to resources that support education and research. This is our first community collaboration in Dataverse and will hopefully lead to further partnerships throughout the province, said Brett Waytuck, University Librarian at the University of Regina. Researchers are currently able to access one year of data from the Regina East station. The historical dataset for all three sites will be available by July 1, 2020. To access the data go to https://dataverse.scholarsportal.info/dataverse/GPAZ, select the dataset from the list and click download. University of Regina researchers also have the option of creating a free Dataverse account which will give them the ability to upload their own datasets. Contact Murray Hilderman, Executive Director, GPAZ: 306-551-6334 (phone) or [email protected] (email) Contact Brett Waytuck, University Librarian at University of Regina: Michelle at 306-371-8039 (cell) or [email protected] (email)

June 3rd is Clean Air Day in Canada. A joint media release by the Great Plains Air Zone and the University of Regina will be made on an exciting new project. Please tune in on Clean Air Day and stay safe.

June 3rd is Clean Air Day in Canada. A joint media release by the Great Plains Air Zone and the University of Regina will be made on an exciting new project. Please tune in on Clean Air Day and stay safe.

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/new-air-monitoring-system-collect

Congratulations to all participants at the Regina Regional Science Fair! "The Regina Regional Science Fair is an annual event which brings together students from grades 5 to 12 in Regina and some surrounding communities to present their science projects to a judging base comprised of members of the scientific and professional communities."

'It was surreal:' Regina student wins gold medal at national science fair https://leaderpost.com//it-was-surreal-regina-student-wins

The Great Plains Air Zone is excited to share our announcement that the new air monitoring station at our East Regina site has been delivered and it is now collecting air quality data. This improved station will enhance our monitoring capability by expanding the number of air contaminants that we monitor. Go to our our website www.gpaz.org to see the live air quality report from all of the Great Plains Air Zone monitoring stations.

Congratulations to all participants at the Regina Regional Science Fair! "The Regina Regional Science Fair is an annual event which brings together students from grades 5 to 12 in Regina and some surrounding communities to present their science projects to a judging base comprised of members of the scientific and professional communities."

https://www.cnn.com//ulez-london-emissions-scli/index.html

https://www.cbc.ca//low-level-air-pollution-costs-the-econ

This article contains great suggestions for how to stay safe outdoors over the next few days - as we contend with both wildfire smoke and rising temperatures. "Most of Saskatchewan remains under a heat warning Thursday, and smoke from wildfires is causing poor air quality and reducing visibility. Environment Canada said conditions are not expected to improve until the weekend and it’s advising people to take necessary precautions to protect themselves."

Burning your trash may seem like the most convenient way to get rid of it but what's not convenient is harmful pollutants and being fined! Open burning of waste... is illegal in Saskatchewan. The health and environmental effects of burning garbage are numerous and include links to cancer, exposure to carbon monoxide and the settlement of pollutants on crops. Let's keep Saskatchewan's people and environment clean and healthy. For more information about the dangers of burning garbage, see http://publications.gov.sk.ca/documents/66/89625-English.pdf.

ICYMI: Great Plains Air Zone - GPAZ joins Sabeen Ahmad to chat about what they do and the importance of clean air. https://regina.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1411938

We really enjoyed telling our story today to CTV Morning Live - Regina to celebrate #cleanairday.

https://www.cbc.ca//how-some-trees-could-protect-kids-from

https://www.cbc.ca/natureofth/episodes/something-in-the-air

check out this report from the Clean Air Strategic Alliance in Alberta - outlining some recommendations to reduce air emissions

Did you know - We publish monthly air quality data reports to our resource page? October and November have just been posted! www.gpaz.org/resources

http://thestarphoenix.com//air-quality-statement-issued-fo

A cool resource from Winnipeg - a site that measures over 60 indicators of community wellbeing, including important air quality factors!

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43141467

http://www.cbc.ca//calgary-air-quality-map-ranking-1.45471

Did you know that we provide monthly summaries of the raw data collected from our continuous air monitoring stations? The most recent of these dashboard reports were just uploaded on our website, available at the link below.

https://ecalertme.weather.gc.ca/warning-latest_en.php

Smoke is forecast for our region tomorrow. You can check the Air Quality Health Index when making plans for the day. https://weather.gc.ca/airquality/pages/skaq-001_e.html

Provincial fire ban update.

Learn about how smoke from wildfires is a risk to human health and view daily smoke forecasts. http://www.ec.gc.ca/cas-aqhi/default.asp

Our June newsletter is now out, and contains information about our new Yorkton station, notice of our August AGM, and more. Check the link here, or subscribe at gpaz.org

Now available on our website: - May dashboard reports for the East Regina and Belle Plaine stations - 2016 Annual report

Today is #cleanairday and we are feeling pretty grateful for the work we get to do to provide opportunity for outdoor experiences in some of the places with the cleanest air on the planet! What are you doing to celebrate #enviroweek? Photo by Pebbleshoo.

Remember! You have the power to keep our air clean! During Canadian Environment Week, take your friends and family out to a provincial or national park. Many of them are offering nature interpretation programs and special activities during the week. #CleanAirDay #EnviroWeek

A new report out from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) that adds new insight into the cost of pollution in Canada. In sections three and four there is specific information about the health and income costs of air pollution - including pollutants like particulate matter<2.5 (PM2.5) which GPAZ measures through its continuous air monitoring stations. This report reinforces the importance of having good air quality monitoring systems in place so that we can continue to research and respond to air quality issues.

Yesterday saw the launch of our third continuous air monitoring station in The City of Yorkton. Thanks to all involved in the process! This third station will e...nable GPAZ to more fully monitor the airshed zone by providing accurate information from Yorkton and the surrounding area. We'll soon have hourly live data from the station available on our website at gpaz.org - stay tuned!