Southside residents have for decades worried that the cluster of metal recycling plants in the area is polluting the air and exacerbating their health issues. Now, researchers are collecting data to find out.
The Health Collaborative, a Bexar County health nonprofit, and researchers with University of Texas at San Antonio are offering to put small air quality monitors at the homes of residents who want to participate in the program.
The monitors, made by PurpleAir, will help researchers gather data on particulate matter outside of residents’ homes. That data will be compared to other parts of the city and analyzed to find potential sources.
Metal and auto recycling plants have for decades drawn the ire of residents living on the South Side and environmental advocates who worry that the dust and smoke they see in their neighborhoods originates from the plants, and that it’s harming their health.
But there’s been little neighborhood-level data showing what residents are actually breathing in or where it comes from, which advocates say has made it difficult to press policymakers for change.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality maintains three air quality monitors in San Antonio able to gather data on particulate matter. Two of them are on the north side of town and another on the far West Side off of Old Highway 90, according to a TCEQ map.
“Anecdotally, people have been saying this for a while,” said Elizabeth Lutz, executive director of The Health Collaborative. “Now it’s time for us to actually capture that … and really understand when it’s happening, how it’s happening, and where it is concentrated.”
On Wednesday, about 15 Southside residents gathered at an event to share their concerns and hear from the project leaders on how they can be involved.
“We have three factories facing our neighborhood,” Tricia Fayadh said. “What’s going to happen to us in the long term? Has it impacted us already? … We don’t know how to protect ourselves from all these industries next to us.”
Chronic exposure to air pollution has been tied to respiratory issues like asthma and a range of other poor health outcomes, from cardiovascular disease to cancer and even Alzheimer’s disease. But proving links between air quality and health outcomes in a specific location is not easy.
Kristen Brown, an assistant professor in UTSA’s Division of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the lead researcher on the project.
“Part of the issue in making bigger changes was a lack of data showing exactly what processes might be contributing to potential health effects,” Brown said. “So the goal is if we can get better data, we can identify those processes and have a better case to actually make changes.”
The project builds on what UTSA has already done on the West Side of the city, Brown said, where the university has deployed air quality and heat-monitoring technology in residential homes.
The Health Collaborative has purchased 10 PurpleAir monitors, available free of charge to residents who would like to have one installed at their home. The nonprofit, relying on a $50,000 grant, plans to purchase more if the demand is there.
The monitors use a small amount of electricity and Wi-Fi, Lutz said, and the nonprofit is offering a $25 gift card as compensation. The monitors offer real-time air quality data to residents, allowing them to see when there’s an increase in particulate matter outside their homes.
Researchers plan to gather data through March 2027, Brown said.
Peter Onofre, a longtime Southside resident who works on resiliency efforts in the historic Quintana neighborhood, said that for decades, residents didn’t have the tools to advocate for themselves.
“You’d think getting a basic air quality monitor would be pretty simple,” he said. “That’s why I’m excited about this project. Folks didn’t have the data to know how it was impacting them.”
