It is likely to take at least a year for the portable air-quality monitoring stations being funded by the Government to identify areas to place larger units that meet regulatory standards.

Andrew Peters, associate research scientist at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, which operates the Government’s programme testing for potentially harmful emissions in the air, said the portable, non regulatory-grade units recently purchased will take two months to become operational.

Once operational, they will be placed in various locations to help to identify where larger, regulatory-grade machines might be needed to assess for breaches of pollution regulations.

Dr Peters, who leads the government-run programme, told The Royal Gazette: “The units are on order and will be operational in about two months. We need to construct them and configure them to our specifications, ship them here and get them mounted before they are operational.

“It may take a year or more to find the locations for the regulatory-standard units, but it is difficult to say. There will be different wind patterns and seasonal variations to consider.”

Dr Peters said it was important to note that although the portable units are cheaper and do not meet regulatory standards — meaning if they detect a breach, that information cannot be used for prosecution — it does not mean that they are functionally substandard in any way.

Asked why they were unable to meet regulatory standards, Dr Peters said: “It is just that they have not been certified by the federal register in the US. They have not been assessed and certified for that purpose. If we want them for regulatory purposes, they need to be credited by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

“It is not because they are substandard or inaccurate. It is using a different tool for a different purpose. We are not putting them out to use as a legal process. We are still looking at trying to better measure the emissions.

“They are a different type of instrument for broader, real-time measurements in more locations. They are cheaper and give wider geographical coverage than the regulatory-compliant ones.

“So by getting this network of sensors, we’ll be able to build up a much more detailed map of the emissions and sources of emissions, and we will be better placed to identify where we can put them.”

Dr Peters said that the cost to the taxpayer of $215,034, as published in the Official Gazette on October 19, covers not only the six new portable units but also their maintenance and operation over a one-year period.

“In subsequent years, the cost decreases as we don’t need the capital investment each year,” he said.

The Government’s previous air-monitoring programme used three regulatory-standard stations, but was halted in 2022 to save $230,000.

There were units in Prospect to test air from the incinerator, in East Broadway for traffic emissions and at Bios.

There are units operated separately by Belco to test for emissions associated with the plant, including one at Ocean Lane, which has detected exceedences of sulphur dioxide, but they are not part of the independent government programme.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs said previously that the new portable monitoring stations will be located at East Broadway, for comparison and correlation with a regulatory-standard unit that is to be reinstalled; Prospect, for monitoring of the Tynes Bay Waste-to-Energy plant — replacing a large regulatory-standard station at that site; Ocean Lane, Saltus Grammar School and The Berkeley Institute, all in Pembroke and close to Belco; and Waller’s Point Road, St David's, to monitor the clinical waste incinerator and crematorium.

However, Dr Peters said the locations for the portable units had not been finalised.

He added: “We have to visit the sites and we need power to hook into. The biggest problem is the physical features — the larger, regulatory-standard units will need to be a certain distance away from buildings and trees, facing a certain direction and have a clear view of surrounding area.

“That’s difficult to achieve in a built-up area.”