Developing a Community-Based Low-Cost Air Quality Monitoring Program in America’s Black Belt: Case Study in Uniontown, Alabama

Across the United States, environmental hazards differentially burden low-wealth communities of color due to institutionalized racism and discriminatory practices in zoning, land use, and community development. This is observed in the predominantly African American City of Uniontown, Alabama. Community members in Uniontown have long complained of poor health conditions associated with local operations of the Arrowhead Landfill, the Southeastern Cheese Corporation cheese processing plant, and the Harvest Select catfish processing facility. From March–July 2019, local residents were trained in the use of real-time low-cost PurpleAir sensors for monitoring ambient air pollution. Baseline data on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) were collected. The daily average PM 2.5 concentrations ranged from 1.39 to 24.0 μg/m 3 . An Analysis of Variance and post hoc Tukey’s Honest Significant Difference test were performed to compare the average daily PM 2.5 concentrations in the five regions of Uniontown (divided into a control area, east downtown, west downtown, landfill, and sprayfield). The average daily PM 2.5 concentration in the five regions ranged from 4.76 μg/m 3 (control and sprayfield) to 5.49 μg/m 3 (landfill). Although these were below the daily and annual standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, the levels at the landfill were above the more protective WHO annual standards, suggesting a need for an intervention. Overall, this study provided baseline PM 2.5 concentrations that will be used to assess the effectiveness of mitigation efforts that can be taken by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.