PM2.5 Concentrations in a Rapidly Developing Neighborhood in the City of Lomé, Togo

A rapid increase in the population of Togo, and in particular that of the capital city of Lome, has led to an increase in urban sprawl, anthropogenic activities such as traffic and combustion, and air pollution. To measure and identify trends in concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the city of Lome in Togo, a PurpleAir PA -II -SD monitor is placed in the rapidly expanding peripheral district of Agoe-Minamadou for three years. A correction factor, based on a colocation with a ThermoFischer TEOM reference monitor at the University of Lome, is presented and applied to the PurpleAir data. We demonstrate improvement in PM2.5 estimates using this locally -built correction factor over a previous correction factor based on a colocation in nearby Accra, Ghana. Daily mean corrected PM2.5 concentrations were 21.5 mu g m-3. Concentrations exceeded the WHO daily recommended thresholds (15 mu g/m3) on 68.2% of days measured during the study. Over three years of measurement, air quality in Lome shows very little improvement.