Local Air Quality Matters — and Communities Can Measure It

Air quality is one of those things most people understand is important, but rarely think about on a day-to-day basis—until it begins to affect health, routines, or the people around them.

I sat down with Dan Forsyth at Dataforge.  A Burlington-based IT company.

Over time, Dan has come to recognize how closely air quality is tied to both individual and community well-being. Poor air quality can quietly influence energy levels, breathing, sleep, and long-term health, often without people immediately realizing what’s behind the change. What stood out to him most is that air quality isn’t generic. It can’t always be accurately represented by readings taken miles away. Instead, it’s deeply local, shaped by traffic patterns, wind direction, weather, nearby construction, seasonal activity, and geography.

Living and working in the Aldershot area of Burlington, close to downtown, Dan found that when he checked air quality, the data usually came from the nearest major monitoring station. While that information is helpful at a regional level, it doesn’t always reflect conditions on a specific street or in a particular neighborhood. He began to wonder what the air quality was like right there—on an ordinary day, where people actually live and move through their routines.

That curiosity eventually turned into a practical project: installing a local outdoor Air Quality Index (AQI) sensor.

AQI offers a simple way to understand air quality by combining measurements of common pollutants, such as fine particulate matter, into a single, easy-to-read number that reflects how clean or polluted the air is at any given moment. What makes AQI especially meaningful, Dan notes, is how location-specific it can be. Two places in the same city can experience very different air conditions at the same time.

With the help of Brant Electric Limited, who handled the drilling, cabling, and electrical work, the sensor was installed and brought online. It now continuously measures local air conditions and reports the data through the IQAir platform, where it is publicly accessible to anyone who wants to check it.

One aspect of the project that stood out to Dan was how approachable the process turned out to be. This wasn’t a large infrastructure initiative or a formal research project. With today’s technology, almost anyone can participate in collecting meaningful environmental data. The sensors are compact, reliable, and designed to operate quietly in the background. For those with basic infrastructure in place, the barrier to entry is far lower than many people expect.

The intention was never to make a statement or raise alarms. The goal was simply to contribute something useful and grounded. Air quality affects everyone, but it can be especially important for people with respiratory sensitivities, children, older adults, and anyone who spends significant time outdoors. Having accurate, neighborhood-level information helps people make everyday decisions with greater clarity and less uncertainty.

For Dan, the project also served as a reminder that giving back to a community doesn’t always require large or highly visible gestures. Sometimes it’s about paying attention, asking practical questions, and quietly making better information available. Small, local efforts can add up—especially when they help people understand the environment they live in just a bit more clearly.

This project is supported by the infrastructure and resources provided by
Dataforge Canada
https://dataforgecanada.com