The Town Hall of Arrecife has recently completed the installation of seven air quality monitoring stations, outfitted with sensors to analyse various atmospheric parameters. These devices transmit real-time data to a central location for analysis by the environmental technicians of the capital’s municipal council. The Mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, has emphasised that as of the first weekend of September, the monitors are operational, capturing, monitoring, and controlling atmospheric emissions, particularly the particles that are carried to the island from the Sahara during periods of calima.
Monitoring Public Health
According to the mayor, this deployment of sensors, distributed across various areas of Lanzarote’s capital in this initial phase, will enable the monitoring of pollution levels and help mitigate any adverse effects on public health by informing citizens about the presence of these particles in the skies over Lanzarote.
Yonathan de León pointed out that due to climate change, the Canary Islands, given their proximity to Africa and the Sahara Desert, may experience increased occurrences of calima, as is already evident in recent times. Calima not only reduces visibility but also affects air quality, as particles such as desert dust, clay, and minerals can be harmful to respiratory health by irritating airways and worsening conditions like asthma.
Strategic Locations for Sensor Deployment
This initiative, led by the Department of the Environment, under Councillor Davinia Déniz, has seen the Town Hall install these seven monitoring stations to provide real-time indicators necessary for proactive measures.
Councillor Davinia Déniz elaborated that the pre-alert situation activated by AEMET for the weekend, due to a calima episode over the eastern Canary Islands, will allow for verification of these installations and provide real-time monitoring of the parameters recorded by the sensors, located among other areas near the Dr. Molina Orosa University Hospital, on the city’s coastal beaches, at various educational institutions, along high-traffic roads, and near outdoor sporting facilities.
Commitment to Clean Air
The Town Hall of Arrecife is renting these first seven monitoring stations, equipped for air quality assessment, for a period of one year. The objective is to enhance the quality of life for residents by preemptively measuring urban air quality. The installation of these initial sensors will facilitate the monitoring and controlling of emissions, identifying areas with higher emissions, auditing and quantifying concentration variations, and enabling informed decisions to create a sustainable urban environment that benefits the community. These devices monitor various environmental factors related to air quality, including gases and suspended particles, temperature, and humidity.
Additional Measures for Air Improvement
Arrecife is also pursuing other significant measures to improve air quality, such as acquiring an electric municipal vehicle fleet, transitioning from diesel combustion buses to electric ones, like the new buses launched last December, and the four additional larger units arriving this autumn. There is also the introduction of a new public electric bike rental system to enhance mobility within the city.
The sensors continuously monitor air quality by measuring the potential presence of atmospheric contaminants, especially in urban, educational, and healthcare areas, to improve citizens’ quality of life and guide urban planning in Arrecife as outlined in the new Supplementary Plan.
These devices function by detecting and recording pollutants in air samples, with the Department of the Environment aiming to make this data publicly accessible so that citizens are informed about the air quality in the city where they live or work.
