Air Quality Ontario

The quality of our air directly impacts our health and the natural environment, so we want our air to be as clean as possible. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks works to protect and improve air quality through legislation, targeted programs, and partnerships with other jurisdictions.

The Ministry has a network of 38 ambient (outside) air monitoring stations across the province that collect real-time air pollution data. This information is communicated to the public through Ontario's new Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) and as hourly concentrations of each pollutant. The Air Quality Health Index replaced the Air Quality Index on June 24, 2015. For more information, see What is the Air Quality Health Index? The Air Quality Health Index and data collected from our monitoring stations are posted on this website every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

As part of a new partnership with Environment Canada, Air Quality Health Index values and forecasts will also be posted on the Environment Canada website, www.airhealth.ca. Each year, the ministry prepares an Air Quality Report to assess the state of air quality in Ontario based on the provincial Air Quality Health Index network.