Terra AyAy Environmental Action Group

A Project of The St. Croix Foundation for Community Development
1023 Market Street Christiansted, VI 00820

Press Release

For immediate release
March 11, 2024

First Air Quality Monitor Goes Live
Community-based air monitor network kicks off with local environmental group

Saint Croix, VI: A project of The St. Croix Foundation for Community Development, Terra Ay Ay Environmental Action Group, has installed the first of many new Purple air monitors in the community. The PurpleAir Flex Air Quality Monitor measures real-time PM2.5 concentrations for residential, commercial, or industrial use. Without any other publicly accessible air quality stations installed in Saint Croix the community lacks access to information that directly relates to human and environmental health. The Terra Ay Ay project aims to develop a network of air monitors in strategically identified locations on island and engage the community in discourse on air quality and its effects on health.

Following the 2021 cascading events at the Limetree Refinery a Community Impact Survey was conducted to report the impacts on the community. “In West End neighborhoods, hundreds of residents described noxious odors that left them gasping for breath or stricken with debilitating headaches on a daily basis in April and May. In Kingshill neighborhoods, hundreds of residents described low-lying chemical clouds that crept through windows and doors to infiltrate their homes.” -excerpt from survey report. Using data collected from 681 community responses during the 2012 survey, as well as information from a 2014 report conducted by Eastern Caribbean Center of The University of the Virgin Islands, the Terra Ay Ay project has targeted neighborhoods historically impacted by industrial operations to install a network of air monitors. The air monitors display real-time air quality data online accessible to any community member with access to the internet.

Terra Ay Ay project is looking for residential hosts for the remaining monitors and working with local educators to involve student citizen scientists in the monitoring and analyzing of collected data, to report scientifically useful information to the community. The project’s website is still under construction but it has published the live map showing monitors and their data. Keep an eye on this space for updates and community outreach events: https://terra-ayay-project.org/

Terra Ay Ay Environmental Action Group, of the St Croix Foundation’s Nonprofit Consortium, comprises Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism (CHANT,) St. Croix Environmental Association (SEA,) and Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition (VIGFC) is committed to the protection, conservation, mitigation, and restoration of our island’s natural resources and natural and built environment. Reconnecting our community with nature while helping to build environmental and community resilience.

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