SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — New air testing monitors have been installed around the Seneca Meadows landfill, the largest landfill in the state. This comes after many in the community have complained about illnesses due to the landfill’s emissions.

Taylor Musil says these are low-cost devices that measure pollution. It also allows neighbors to track the air quality and see what they are being exposed to. They can go to a website that will bring up a map that shows real-time data. You then type in Seneca Falls in the search box, zoom in, and there you can see three circles that represent the monitors that are out in the community.

“It’s a colored system, so depending on the color of the monitor on the screen is telling you, according to federal standard, how good is the air quality,” Musil said.

Over the course of the next year, she says the Environmental Health Project will collect information every three months on the pollutants the monitors detect.

“Not just the levels over time, so trends through the season or time of day or wind patterns, weather patterns, to really try to help Seneca Falls residents understand the pollution that they may be exposed to and ultimately the health risks and how to protect themselves,” Musil said.

Musil says there is evidence of bad air quality around Seneca Meadows. She says some of the stats validate the concerns of neighbors who say they are experiencing illnesses due to the landfill emissions, including cancer. Environmental Health Project data shows within five miles of the landfill, over 8 percent of people living there have cancer.

“We’ve had people with brain cancer who have passed away younger than myself; we’ve had lung cancer. It’s hard to know where it is coming from so we really need the data and the air monitors to show us what are the pollutants,” said Barb Reese, a concerned resident.

“It’s really hard to live here and not know if you are harming your family or not,” Reese said.

News10NBC confirmed the state Health Department is looking into the rate of lung cancer in the area surrounding the landfill. As for the future of the landfill, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s draft environmental impact statement review was extended until Nov. 12. We’ll keep you posted about any public hearings or comment periods.

A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses A.I.