Federal Grant To Fund Planned Air Quality Monitoring In Malden

MALDEN, MA — A recently awarded federal grant will pay for air quality monitoring in various locations around Boston, including sites in Malden, the regional Mystic River Watershed Association announced earlier this month.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded its $499,979 grant to the Watershed Association in November as part of a package of grants for Massachusetts communities funded through the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

The Music River Watershed Association’s grant will specifically pay for air quality monitoring in Charlestown, East Boston, Everett and Malden. Monitoring will seek to gather data and information “to increase community awareness, inform decision-making around transportation infrastructure, and reduce exposures to harmful transportation-related particulate air pollutants,” as noted in the Watershed Association’s announcement.

The Mystic River Watershed Association works in 21 communities within the Mystic River Watershed from Woburn to Boston.

The Watershed Association said it chose to work in its selected communities in the immediate Boston area because of limited local air quality data and disproportionate burdens from transportation-related air pollution and disease.

“Our organization uses a network of volunteer scientists to track environmental conditions, develop actionable data, and work with community partners toward clean water, restored habitat, and a healthy environment for people,” Watershed Association Executive Director Patrick Herron said in a statement. “We are excited to continue this long tradition of engaging our communities to understand environmental pollutants, identifying the solutions to these environmental challenges and helping protect public health with this latest effort.”

Planned work will take place under the guidance of a 12-member Community Advisory Board, involving “extensive surveying and outreach” aimed at connecting with area residents who have been disproportionately impacted by poor air quality.

Tufts University’s Neelakshi Hudda will design monitoring studies, which will see a team deploy a network of stationary monitors to measure pollutants later this spring. Each selected community will also see mobile monitoring set up to seven locations identified and selected through community engagement.

Study personnel plan to share the results of their monitoring with area communities to identify possible interventions, the Watershed Association said.