Top air quality rating for Cavan Town

Quarter Two results for 2022 show that, during April, May and June of 2022, ambient air quality in Cavan Town did not fall below the 'Good' rating on the Air Quality Index for Health. The recordings were registered on the town's ambient air quality monitoring station, which was installed in 2020 by Cavan County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2020 at Cavan Courthouse, Farnham Street.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index for Health (AQIH) is a number from one to 10 that tells you what the air quality currently is in the station nearest you. The 'Good' band references those readings which record an AQIH rating between one and three.

The monitoring unit fitted is a FIDAS Particulate Matter measurement system, which 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. For reference, the tiniest thing which the naked eye can see measures at least 70 micrometres, so particles sized 2.5 or 10 micrometres in size can only be viewed under a microscope.

Common sources of particulate matter 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.

View current results

The system measures and transmits the air monitoring data in real-time with graphical results presented on the EPA website. Live air quality data for Cavan Town is available to view at https://airquality.ie/station/EPA-78