TThe Oley Valley School District air monitoring station was installed with funds provided by the Pennsylvania Institute for Children's Environmental Health (PICEH), a non-profit organization dedicated to children's environmental health issues. PICEH is organized within the Kutztown University Foundation and operates air quality monitoring equipment in Berks County, Pennsylvania to better understand air pollution impacts in southeastern Pennsylvania. Funding for the Oley Valley school project was provided by East Penn Mfg. Co., Inc., National Penn Bancshares, and the County of Berks. The Oley Valley air monitoring station includes a full suite of weather sensors and a real-time fine particle monitor, a beta attenuation monitor (BAM), that provides concentrations of fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5). PM2.5 concentrations in the Oley Valley will be compared to levels monitored at Reading and at Kutztown in Berks County and with PM2.5 levels throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Childhood incidence of asthma and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases will be correlated with air pollution levels that are monitored throughout the Berks County Air Monitoring Network. Real-time air quality monitoring data throughout the region can be viewed at PICEH's air monitoring website at www.picehair.org and at the U.S. EPA's air monitoring website at AirNow.gov

Oley Valley Middle School Roof Air Monitoring Station

The Oley Valley Air Monitoring and Weather Station

The Beta Attenuation Monitor (BAM) for measuring fine particle (PM2.5 or soot) pollution

The BAM tape and beta gauge sampler

The weather instruments including wind sensors, solar radiation, barometric pressure, and relative humidity sensors and datalogger/cellular modem in weatherproof enclosure

The heated precipitation gauge

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