Air quality sensors and distributional environmental justice: a case study of Salt Lake County, Utah

ABSTRACT

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) causes health problems and is monitored by U.S. federal and state governments. Due to gaps in public monitoring, people rely on non-regulatory air quality monitoring networks (NAQMNs), comprised of low-cost PM_2.5 sensors, to obtain air quality information. While environmental justice studies have examined social disparities in PM_2.5 and sensor distribution, none have examined disparities in university-purchased vs. privately-purchased sensor distributions. This is important because who purchases sensors (and why) may impact sensor distribution equity. Using multivariable generalized estimating equations, we investigate university-purchased (n=68) and privately-purchased (n=230) sensors in the Salt Lake County, Utah NAQMN with a focus on socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity/immigrant status, and PM_2.5 at the census tract-level (n=208). Tracts with higher SES and PM_2.5 concentrations had increased sensors per resident. Findings related to SES attenuate when predicting university-purchased vs. privately-purchased sensors. Tracts with greater Hispanic immigrant populations and higher PM_2.5 concentrations had increased access to university-purchased sensors. Tracts with higher Asian concentrations were underserved regardless of sensor purchaser. This approach illuminates how university-purchased sensors may enhance distributional environmental justice. Findings have implications for enhancing equitable sensor distribution in NAQMNs.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental justice
• air quality sensors
• sensor distribution
• sensor access

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful feedback from Drs. Brett Clark, Lazarus Adua and Kerry Kelly at the University of Utah. We also thank Tom Becnel and Carl Luft at Tellus for helping us identify the university purchased sensors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data used in this paper are publicly available. Data will be made available to interested researchers upon reasonable request.

Geolocation

40.7608° N and 111.8910° W

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2023.2295099

Notes

1. This is because there are only two companies contributing to SLCo’s NAQMN, PurpleAir and Tellus, and there is only one major research university in SLCo (i.e. UU). We confirmed the number of university- versus privately-purchased sensors from Tellus. After consulting with other UU researchers using sensors in their research, we determined we are the only UU affiliate to have provided households with permanently installed PurpleAir sensors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [10060119].

Notes on contributors

Casey J. Mullen

Casey J. Mullen is currently a NIEHS T-32 post-doctoral research associate with the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University. In 2023, she graduated with her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Utah. Her research interests are in environmental justice, community engagement, citizen science, and participatory air quality monitoring.

Sara E. Grineski

Sara E. Grineski is a Professor of Sociology with a shared appointment in Environmental & Sustainability Studies at the University of Utah. Her research interests are in environmental justice, environmental health disparities, and children’s health.

Timothy W. Collins

Timothy W. Collins is a Professor of Geography with a shared appointment in Environmental & Sustainability Studies at the University of Utah. His research interests are in environmental justice, environmental health, and hazards/disasters.

Aaron B. Flores

Aaron B. Flores is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Arizona State University. He graduated from the University of Utah with his PhD in Geography in 2022. His research interests are in environmental justice and environmental hazards/disasters, with a focus on flood risk in particular.