Sensors tracking air pollution in Chicago make up largest network of its kind in US

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In Chicago, there's a city-wide effort to track air pollution.

The science sits on street corners, hanging above passersby in plain sight.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Project leaders say the network of sensors is the largest system of its kind in the U.S.

"I wouldn't notice it at all. I wouldn't even think to look up there," Chouinara Triplett said.

Triplett was surprised to learn a nearby air quality monitoring sensor was sending real-time information to a publicly available dashboard.

On Tuesday, some sensors showed good air quality, while others nearby reported moderate quality.

"I think it's amazing," Triplett said.

SEE ALSO: Fatalities confirmed after chemical tank ruptures at pulp and paper mill in Washington state

The initiative is called Open Air Chicago. And, in partnership with the city, nearly 300 solar-powered sensors are fixed to light poles across Chicago's roughly 60 zip codes. They are less than a mile apart from each other.

"They are in industrial areas. They are near highways. They are near residential neighborhoods; they are near schools, hospitals," said Serap Erdal, a University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health professor.

Erdal says, in collaboration with the city, they identified industrial neighborhoods where more sensors may be needed, and consulted with community groups for their exact locations.

Erdal says sensors detect two specific pollutants: fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, which is harmful, especially to those with respiratory diseases like asthma.

"These are very small particles that we cannot see with naked human eye, and they are emitted from many different combustion sources. And they are floating in air that we breathe," Erdal said.

By monitoring the air quality, project leaders hope the data will drive smart urban planning by city leaders and policy makers. But in the meantime, Chicagoans now have hyper-local information to make healthy choices.

"People will be able to actually go on, you know, the Open Air Chicago website, go on the Clarity Open Map and be able to see what that actually looks like for their day, you know, based off of whatever's happening around them," said Grace Adams, projects administrator for the Chicago Department of Public Health.

With summer almost here and the potential impact of Canadian wildfires on the horizon, Chicagoans are thankful for another tool.

"I mean you could not breathe. And I thought, that's our future now. You can't go inside and get away from it. So yeah, it weighs heavy on me," Jeanne Hunt said.