Alberta Airsheds Council Releases 2022 Annual Air Quality Report

Posted on April 21, 2023

The Alberta Airsheds Council (AAC) released its 2022 Annual Air Quality Report today. The ACC is made up of Alberta’s ten Airsheds. Alberta’s Airsheds use 88 continuous monitoring stations plus various technologies at hundreds of other locations to monitor the air Albertans breathe. (Airsheds are regional air quality organizations, responsible for independent ambient air monitoring and stakeholder engagement, public awareness, and education.)

 

2022 Alberta AQHI Ratings

The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) represents the relative risks of a combination of common air pollutants known to harm human health. These pollutants are:

  • Ozone (O3),
  • Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), and
  • Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2).

Alberta’s Airsheds collect data to calculate the AQHI, a real-time air quality rating reported in 351 Alberta communities. The AQHI rating indicates the relative level of health risk associated with local air quality. The higher the number, the greater the health risk.

  • In 2022, all Alberta continuous monitoring stations saw AQHI ratings in the low-risk range 88% to 99.5% of the time. (Low risk is 1-3 on the AQHI rating scale.)
  • The provincial average AQHI rating was 2.2 on the 10-point AQHI scale (with 1 being the lowest risk and 10 being the highest risk).
  • 334,017 hours of data were used to calculate the overall provincial AQHI rating.
  • From 2019 to 2022, the average AQHI rating for the province has been at 2.2 or lower.

“By collaborating and working closely together, Alberta’s ten Airsheds are bringing the very best in air quality monitoring and reporting to Albertans,” said Gary Redmond, Co-Chair of Alberta Airsheds Council. “Our collective results indicate that the air Albertans are breathing in our province is low-risk the vast majority of the time.”

To review the full 2022 Alberta Alberta Airsheds Council Annual Air Quality Report, visit https://www.albertaairshedscouncil.ca/

The Alberta Airsheds Council is a formal alliance dedicated to serving our members by leveraging resources, building capacity, and facilitating strategic collaboration with external stakeholders. For more information, visit https://www.albertaairshedscouncil.ca/