Measuring Air Pollution: Cost versus Credibility

Across India, the lack of adequate data on air pollution is a challenge to addressing air pollution. After all, if you do not know what pollutes and by how much, how can you find solutions? Going in blind has rarely been an effective strategy for solving a problem.

One of the primary reasons for inadequate monitoring is the high cost of purchasing and maintaining monitoring equipment. While pollution control boards have invested in reference-grade air quality monitoring systems, these capture ambient air pollution and not exposure, especially at hyper local levels. This hampers the ability of regulatory approaches to accurately identify vulnerable populations and take steps towards protecting public health.

Low-cost sensors could be a solution that disrupts the current ecosystem.