## Research air quality Planning and carrying out a community air quality study can seem daunting. Be reassured that many other community groups have planned and done air quality studies, and that the Public Lab community is here to support you. At any time, you can ask questions, start an issue brief with any amount of information you have, or start [documenting your project](https://publiclab.org/wiki/projects), and gather input from other Public Lab members.
### Getting ready Here are some resources that might help you get started with a community air monitoring project. **Posts about gathering with community** [nodes:grid:community-meeting]
**See how other communities have investigated their local air** Many community groups have studied local air quality in their neighborhoods and shared their extensive knowledge and experiences in publicly-available written guides. @kgradow1 has compiled a handy **[short list of community air guides here](https://publiclab.org/notes/kgradow1/09-09-2020/a-short-list-of-community-air-guides)**, and explained the advantages and limitations of each guide. Much of the more general guidance on this page was collected from these community air guides. A particularly comprehensive how-to guide is the _[Guidebook for Developing a Community Air Monitoring Network: Steps, Lessons, and Recommendations from the Imperial County Community Air Monitoring Project](https://trackingcalifornia.org/cms/file/imperial-air-project/guidebook)._ It covers community engagement, choosing tools and software, determining monitoring sites, and analyzing data.

### Deciding what to monitor #### What pollutants might be in the air near you? Considering common sources of air pollutants can help you determine which pollutants might be in your community. **_General sources_**: the buttons below list some examples of human activities, industries, and natural sources. Click the buttons to see common air pollutants these sources use or produce.

Oil and gas production, refining, storage; oil- and coal-fired power plants

Chemical manufacturing, commercial manufacturing, petrochemical plants

Exhaust from gas-powered motor vehicles; municipal waste sites


**_Sources near you_**: the activities listed below can help you learn about searching public databases to find out what industries and emissions sources are near you. [notes:grid:activity:air-database]
After you narrow down your pollutants of interest, you can read more about them and the range of methods to investigate the pollution below in [Air pollutants and methods to study them].

##### How can air pollutants impact my health? You might choose a specific pollutant to monitor because you know it’s in your local air and you’re experiencing health impacts. **[ToxFAQs](https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp)** by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in the US contains a large alphabetical list of compounds, how you might be exposed to each, and their potential health impacts. **[Toxic City: Health Impacts of Chemicals Emitted in the South Durban Area](https://publiclab.org/notes/kgradow1/11-06-2020/toxic-city-health-impacts-of-chemicals-emitted-in-the-south-durban-area)**: this guide by the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) refers to specific companies in the South Durban area of South Africa, but the industry types, emissions, and health impacts can be applicable to anywhere. If there aren’t specific pollutants you’re looking for and you’re more interested in detecting what’s in the air, you can do broad spectrum sampling.
#### What are your study goals? Determining what you **ultimately want to do with air quality data** will help guide the approach you take and what kind of data will best answer your questions. Some example goals: + Create community awareness of an air quality issue + Identify pollution hotspots for more monitoring + Share information on an air quality issue with media + Submit data to a regulatory agency In general, using data for regulatory or legal purposes will require certain methods to collect the data and meeting set data quality standards. **Posts about planning an environmental study** + [Start an environmental monitoring study](https://publiclab.org/wiki/start-enviro-monitor-study) + [Strategizing around an air quality issue](https://publiclab.org/wiki/frac-sand-action-oriented-resources#Strategizing): this particular page is about frac sand but could be applied to other air quality issues

### Air pollutants and monitoring methods Based on your initial observations and research on what sources of air pollution are near you, you have an idea of which air pollutants you want to investigate. **What methods are available to study them?** You might be able to use [existing public databases](https://publiclab.org/notes/bhamster/11-30-2020/comparing-air-quality-databases-a-fun-activity) to meet your study goals, or you might decide to collect your own air monitoring data. Below are resources for gathering your own data on air quality. #### OVERVIEW OF COMMON APPROACHES