Idaho Department of Air Quality does more than observe air to decide its quality

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — “The air floating around right now, goes through this...” said Air Quality Analyst Jacob Meier.

Twin Falls Department of Environmental Quality has a machine that runs 24/7 to monitor our air quality.

“This machine here is a Bam 10-20 unit, it’s a Beta Attenuation Mass Monitor. Basically, what this machine does is -- it pulls air with dust leading particles from just the atmosphere here and it pulls it through the machine, and it measures the amount of dust and particular matters that are in the air,” said Meier.

The machine updates when the air quality is poor, and people can know if they are at risk.

“We have filtered tape in here [the machine] that collects those smaller particles, that are 2.5 microns and smaller,” said Meier.

According to Meier, the machine samples the tape for a 42-minute period and sends that information to a database, which auto-populates that information into the DEQ’s online air quality map.

“We also have monitors just like this in Ketchum and then we also have another monitor that’s very similar to this in Paul,” said Air Quality Manager Bobby Dye.

When a wildfire is too far from the monitors in Twin Falls, Ketchum or Paul, the DEQ has portable monitors that they can place outside to measure the air quality.

“That specialized monitor is an E-Bam, and what we do is -- I’d go get that monitor, I’d drive it out to that area, I’ll set it up on site and make sure it’s connected to the database so that we can use that information,” said Meier.

The information on the map is updated in real-time and available to the public in the entire state of Idaho.

“Air quality is important because for human health impact. Making sure people know that when they go outside it’s in the good category or in the moderate category, or maybe that people with health risks should limit their time outside or people should limit their time in general,” said Dye.

You can view the live map for air quality updates at DEQ.IDAHO.GOV.

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