Top air quality rating for Cavan Town

Ambient air quality in Cavan Town did not fall below the 'Good' rating on the Air Quality Index for Health (AQIH) in the second quarter of this year.

The recently published results relate to air quality monitoring in the County Town in April, May and June.

The device, which measures and transmits the air monitoring data in real-time and reports results on the Environmental Protection Agency website, is located behind Cavan Courthouse. It was installed in 2020 and the data collected feeds into the EPA's AQIH, which ranks air quality from one to 10, 10 being the worst.

The 'Good' band ranks an AQIH rating of between one and three.

The monitoring unit records PM2.5 and PM10 levels. Particulate matter (PM) is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air – PM2.5 and PM10 refer to the size of the pollutant, in micrometres.

Common sources of PM include dust from unsealed roads; smoke from fires, car and truck exhausts; and industrial emissions. Health effects associated with low air quality resulting from high PM levels include asthma, lung cancer, and premature death.