Excessive Smoke from a Neighborhood Restaurant Highlights Gaps in Air Pollution Enforcement: Citizen Science Observational Study

TL;DR

A citizen science project revealed high pollution from a restaurant's smoke, highlighting gaps in air pollution enforcement and the potential of community action.

Contribution

Demonstrates how citizen science can identify local pollution issues not captured by official monitoring and influence change through community engagement.

Findings

PM2.5 levels near the restaurant were significantly higher during cooking (36.9 μg/m3) compared to areas more than 50 m away (13.0 μg/m3).

Only seven U.S. states regulate food cookers as pollution sources, with six explicitly exempting them.

Engaging the restaurant owner led to a switch in cooking fuel, reducing smoke and PM2.5 to background levels.

Abstract

Regulatory air pollution monitoring is performed using a sparse monitoring network designed to provide background concentrations of pollutants but may miss small area variations due to local emission sources. Low-cost air pollution sensors operated by trained citizen scientists provide an opportunity to fill this gap. We describe the development and implementation of an air pollution monitoring and community engagement plan in response to resident concerns regarding excessive smoke production from a neighborhood restaurant. Particulate matter (PM2.5) was measured using a low-cost, portable sensor. When cooking was taking place, the highest PM2.5 readings were within 50 m of the source (mean PM2.5 36.9 μg/m3) versus greater than 50 m away (mean PM2.5 13.0 μg/m3). Sharing results with local government officials did not result in any action to address the source of the smoke emissions, due to lack of jurisdiction. A review of air pollution regulations across the United States indicated that only seven states regulate food cookers and six states specifically exempted cookers from air pollution regulations. Concerns about the smoke were communicated with the restaurant owner who eventually changed the cooking fuel. Following this change, less smoke was observed from the restaurant and PM2.5 measurements were reduced to background levels. Although current environmental health regulations may not protect residents living near sources of food cooker-based sources of PM2.5, community engagement shows promise in addressing these emissions.

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