Development of civil air quality monitoring network – current challenges and future plans

On June 8-9, members of the organization “Green Pole” / civil movement “My City Kills Me” had a workshop and a meeting to develop a strategic plan for the first civilian air quality monitoring network in Georgia. With the help of Czech and Belarus partners and invited technical experts, we discussed the strategy of expanding air quality monitoring throughout Georgia, and selected the main research cities and locations where the level of pollution and, therefore, public interest is high. We discussed different methodologies for data processing and presentation to users, to be able to evaluate and analyze certain temporal trends of the obtained results, we discussed the shortcomings that should be improved in terms of the design of the device.

We remind you that from January 2023, our team, with the support of the Czech non-governmental organization “Arnika” and the “TRANSITION” program of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, started working on creating the first civilian air quality monitoring network in Georgia. Last year, 31 devices were installed, and this year – an additional 24 devices. Currently, our devices are installed in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Mtskheta, Kaspi, and Chiatura. The number of devices and coverage area will gradually increase.