P.E.I. adds new monitoring stations to keep a closer eye on air quality

The P.E.I. Department of the Environment has added two of its own air quality monitoring stations to the three operated by the federal government.

Sean Ledgerwood, acting manager of water and air monitoring for the province, said Islanders do not yet have much to worry about. Air quality on P.E.I. is generally good, and that held last year despite wildfires across the country that had a big impact both in Canada and the United States.

"We really didn't get much of that. We were kind of lucky that it blew away from P.E.I. Our equipment showed that there was maybe one afternoon, one evening, that it actually impacted the air quality," said Ledgerwood.

"The wildfires in Halifax last year, in Nova Scotia, the winds took it close to us but it kind of missed us."

While smoke was visible high in the atmosphere, it did not for the most part come down to levels where people could breathe it in.

'We have to be prepared'

The province has a website where it publishes air quality information.

Monitoring air quality ensures the government can advise residents when to take health precautions, says Sean Ledgerwood. (CBC)

It has currently posted daily data for all of 2023 for the three federal locations: Charlottetown, Southampton (south of St. Peters), and Wellington. It shows the Air Quality Health Index passed 2.5 on only a few occasions and reached 3.0 only once.

Air quality ratings between one and three are considered low risk. The average for the year for the three locations was 1.8.

One of the lessons from Nova Scotia last year was that air quality can be a very localized phenomenon, which increases the importance of having monitors in a variety of locations.

The two new monitoring stations added by the province are in Montague and Summerside.

But Ledgerwood cautions that unfavourable wind conditions could significantly change the impact of wildfire smoke on P.E.I. The most likely scenario is smoke drifting in from other provinces, he said.

"We're prepared to monitor that and tell the public when that happens so that they can take action to protect themselves," he said.