1001 Smart Cities
🇿🇦 Johannesburg

Johannesburg's Ambient Air-Quality Stations: Measured, Published, Vandalised

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 18 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

18 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

Nine stations in 2019, eight by 2025, one shut since 2015 and one dark for three years. When Johannesburg's air smelt of sulphur in 2026, two stations could say what it was.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Official
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byCity of Johannesburg, Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (Air Quality Management Unit); data published on SAAQIS, hosted by the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
Scale🏙️ City-wide
CostOver R5 million spent building and revamping the stations between 2004 and 2019 (City figure, June 2019); the 2019 plan estimated R2 862 500 per year over four years to equip every station for all criteria pollutants
FundingCity of Johannesburg budget; the City said in June 2019 it had spent over R5 million since 2004 building and revamping the stations

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,216 documented projects · 🏙️ 11 more in Johannesburg · 🌫️ Air quality guide · 🌱 Environment projects

Johannesburg's Environment and Infrastructure Services Department has run ambient air-quality stations since 2004, when six were set up in Alexandra, Buccleuch, Delta Park, Jabavu, Newtown and Orange Farm; Diepsloot and Ivory Park followed in 2009 and a mobile station in Davidsonville in 2015. Hourly averages go to SAAQIS, the national environment department's portal. The City counted nine stations in 2019 and eight in 2025. In March 2026 the Alexandra and Buccleuch stations detected a city-wide sulphur smell, Alexandra peaking at 36–37 ppb of hydrogen sulphide. Uptime is the counter-weight: the City's 2019 plan found data availability "highly variable" and falling, Davidsonville was offline for more than three years after vandalism, and Delta Park has been shut since 2015.

Live 📅 since 2004

📊 Impact

No reading triggers an automatic response, and no source states an effect of the network on pollution levels. What the stations did in March 2026 was characterise an episode: the City reported hydrogen sulphide peaking at 36–37 ppb and sulphur dioxide at around 52 ppb at Alexandra, advised residents to stay indoors and escalated the question of the source to the national and provincial departments; the national department cited Buccleuch alongside Secunda, Springs, Irene and Midstream as stations whose peaks exceeded the WHO nuisance-odour threshold of 5.02 ppb, and attributed the plume to Mpumalanga. Data completeness is the measured weakness: a 2024 national report records seven City stations operational over the past five years, with four to five reporting above 75% data recovery.

🎓 Lesson

A measurement network is only as good as its uptime, and Johannesburg shows both ways it fails. Stations are stripped — Buccleuch and the Crown interchange were vandalised before 2019, Davidsonville stood dark for over three years, Delta Park has been shut since 2015 and awaits relocation — and the data that flows is patchy: the City's plan dropped Ivory Park and Diepsloot from its 2004–2015 assessment for low data availability. The station that answered the 2026 sulphur question, Alexandra, was recorded as shut down since 2010 at the City's 2016 site visit; it was the hydrogen sulphide monitoring the City added after the 2022 odour episode that let it speak. Nothing ties a reading to a legal consequence: the stations inform plans and advisories, while the regulatory answer to sulphur — a tighter national emission limit — followed a 2022 investigation, not a city threshold.

🌱 EnvironmentAir qualitySensors & IoTOpen data

Sources

↗ City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)Published October 2019The City's air quality management plan, dated October 2019. Section 3.1 states the network was first established in 2004 with six stations (Alexandra, Buccleuch, Delta Park, Jabavu, Newtown, Orange Farm), expanded in 2009 (Diepsloot, Ivory Park) and in 2015 (mobile station, Davidsonville), and now consists of nine stations; Table 4 records each station's status at the May–June 2016 site visits (Buccleuch not operational due to power problems, Alexandra shut down since 2010, Delta Park shut with all instruments removed, Newtown not operational, Orange Farm, Jabavu, Diepsloot, Ivory Park and Davidsonville operational); section 3.2 states that data availability per station per year was highly variable and decreased substantially over 2004–2015, and that Ivory Park and Diepsloot were excluded from the assessment for low data availability. Table 21 estimates approximately R2 862 500 per year over four years to expand all stations to all criteria pollutants.
↗ City of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019)City newsroom item on the relaunch of the Orange Farm station. States that the city has nine monitoring stations across all regions, that since 2004 the City has spent over R5 million building and revamping them, that two stations (Crown interchange and Buccleuch) were vandalised in the past, and that the data is public on SAAQIS, hosted by the national environment department.
↗ City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)City media statement on the re-commissioning of the Davidsonville station. States the station had been offline for more than three years following vandalism and theft, that the City operates eight stations across all regions reporting to SAAQIS, that the Delta Park station is still derelict due to vandalism, that the City also uses low-cost sensors, and that the Air Quality Management Plan had recently been adopted.
↗ City of Johannesburg — Joburg marks International Day for Clean Air for Blue Skies with week-long campaign (5 Sep 2025)City newsroom item on Clean Air Week 2025. States that the City operates eight air quality monitoring stations that provide real-time data, accessible to the public through the SAAQIS website and app.
↗ City of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026)City media statement on the sulphur-like odour of 9–10 March 2026. States that monitoring confirmed elevated hydrogen sulphide at the Buccleuch and Alexandra stations, that at the Alexandra station H2S peaked at approximately 36–37 ppb and sulphur dioxide at around 52 ppb, that the matter was escalated to the national and Gauteng environment departments, that residents were advised to remain indoors during strong odours, and that the City hosts no major heavy industrial operations.
Show 5 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)National department statement on the same episode. States that SAAQIS data showed hydrogen sulphide peaks at the Secunda, Springs, Irene, Midstream and Buccleuch stations above the WHO nuisance-odour threshold of 5.02 ppb, that south-easterly winds carried pollution from Mpumalanga into Gauteng, that since 2022 the City of Johannesburg has invested in two additional hydrogen sulphide monitoring stations in Alexandra and Buccleuch, and that after the 2022 investigation the department proposed tightening the hydrogen sulphide emission limit for coal gasification from 3500 to 600 mg per cubic metre.
↗ Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — State of Air Report 2004–2024: Highlights of 20 Years of NEMAQA Implementation (Sep 2024)Published September 2024Presentation by the National Air Quality Officer to the 18th Air Quality Governance Lekgotla, 2–4 September 2024. The Gauteng inputs slide states that 7 of the City of Johannesburg's stations have been operational over the past five years and that 4 to 5 stations report above 75% data recovery, and that the City secured technical support from C40, GIZ, the World Bank, the Clean Air Fund and Breathe Cities.
↗ Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Introducing Low-Cost Sensor Technologies to Improve National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (29 Sep 2025)Department presentation to the 2025 Air Quality Governance Lekgotla. Its provincial summary lists the City of Johannesburg with six low-cost sensors that are operational but not reporting to SAAQIS, and a plan to deploy 200 sensors in Gauteng across the City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Sedibeng and the West Rand.
↗ Daily Maverick — Gauteng's air quality monitoring choking with most stations offline in SA's most polluted province (16 Oct 2025)Reports the Gauteng MEC's figures: of the province's 31 municipal-owned stations 12 are fully operational, three partially and 16 not at all; keeping one station running costs about R500,000 a year in maintenance; and Delta Park in Johannesburg has been shut since 2015 for security reasons and is awaiting relocation. The provincial counts are not Johannesburg's and are not used in the entry.
↗ Daily Maverick — City of Joburg reopens vandalised air quality monitoring station to clean up 'the air we share' (12 Sep 2022)Report on the Davidsonville relaunch. States the station is one of nine across the city, that seven are operational, that Delta Park is down because of vandalism, that the station also measures solar radiation, wind and humidity, and that its data goes to a local and a national station and is shared on SAAQIS. Byline 12 September 2022, 01:42 SAST; the URL slug carries the UTC date of 11 September.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2004. 10 of 10 sources carry a publication date, from 7 June 2019 to 12 March 2026.

When the sources were published

  1. City of Johannesburg · city governmentCity of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019)
  2. City of Johannesburg · city governmentCity of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
  3. City of Johannesburg · city governmentCity of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)
  4. Daily Maverick · pressDaily Maverick — City of Joburg reopens vandalised air quality monitoring station to clean up 'the air we share' (12 Sep 2022)
  5. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment · national governmentDepartment of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — State of Air Report 2004–2024: Highlights of 20 Years of NEMAQA Implementation (Sep 2024)
  6. City of Johannesburg · city governmentCity of Johannesburg — Joburg marks International Day for Clean Air for Blue Skies with week-long campaign (5 Sep 2025)
  7. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment · national governmentDepartment of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Introducing Low-Cost Sensor Technologies to Improve National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (29 Sep 2025)
  8. Daily Maverick · pressDaily Maverick — Gauteng's air quality monitoring choking with most stations offline in SA's most polluted province (16 Oct 2025)
Show 2 more dated sourcesShow fewer
  1. City of Johannesburg · city governmentCity of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026)
  2. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment · national governmentDepartment of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 18 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence file · public beta 18 addressable claims, 10 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 18

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-41016919edee5c49 quantitative
Johannesburg's Environment and Infrastructure Services Department has run ambient air-quality stations since 2004, when six were set up in Alexandra, Buccleuch, Delta Park, Jabavu, Newtown and Orange Farm
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The City's 2019 plan states that its ambient monitoring network was first established in 2004, with six stations initially set up in Alexandra, Buccleuch, Delta Park, Jabavu, Newtown and Orange Farm. The 2022 statement is issued by the Environment and Infrastructure Services Department as the operator of the stations.
Caveat
A City article of September 2024 says the Alexandra station at Eastbank Clinic was established in 2002, and a 2009 national State of Air chapter counts eight City stations in 2004; the plan's 2004 date is used because it is the City's own account of the network.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
  2. City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)
Claim 2 clm-1e74c31a231a69bb quantitative
Diepsloot and Ivory Park followed in 2009 and a mobile station in Davidsonville in 2015
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The plan states that the network was expanded in 2009 with the Diepsloot and Ivory Park stations and in 2015 with the mobile station in Davidsonville.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
Claim 3 clm-2f43bb61ec4995c5 descriptive
Hourly averages go to SAAQIS, the national environment department's portal
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The plan describes the City's monitoring data as hourly averages held in the SAAQIS database; the 2019 statement says the information is public on SAAQIS, hosted and maintained by the national environment department; the 2026 national statement points to SAAQIS at saaqis.environment.gov.za as the department's system.
Caveat
The 2019 statement names the predecessor Department of Environmental Affairs; the department has since been renamed.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
  2. City of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019)
  3. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)
Claim 4 clm-cf5e639503933dd1 quantitative
The City counted nine stations in 2019 and eight in 2025
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The June 2019 newsroom item says the city has nine monitoring stations across all regions; the September 2025 item says the City operates eight air quality monitoring stations providing real-time data.
Caveat
The City already said eight in September 2022, the same week Daily Maverick reported nine with seven operational; no City document explains which station left the count.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019)
  2. City of Johannesburg — Joburg marks International Day for Clean Air for Blue Skies with week-long campaign (5 Sep 2025)
Claim 5 clm-bf36d09f265bd1ee quantitative
In March 2026 the Alexandra and Buccleuch stations detected a city-wide sulphur smell, Alexandra peaking at 36–37 ppb of hydrogen sulphide
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The City's statement of 11 March 2026 says monitoring data confirmed elevated hydrogen sulphide at the Buccleuch and Alexandra stations, with spikes on 9 and 10 March, and that at the Alexandra station H2S peaked at approximately 36–37 parts per billion.
Caveat
The 36–37 ppb figure is the City's own reading for Alexandra; the statement gives no number for Buccleuch.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026)
Claim 6 clm-dd6b5c222cf32f88 quantitative
the City's 2019 plan found data availability "highly variable" and falling
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Section 3.2 of the plan states that data availability per station per year was highly variable and had decreased substantially over the 2004–2015 analysis period, so no trend analysis was performed.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
Claim 7 clm-684fec7f267cad6c descriptive
Davidsonville was offline for more than three years after vandalism
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The City's September 2022 statement quotes the MMC that the Davidsonville station had been offline for more than three years following unabated vandalism and theft; Daily Maverick reports the station was left unoperational for more than three years after its doors were stripped and equipment damaged.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)
  2. Daily Maverick — City of Joburg reopens vandalised air quality monitoring station to clean up 'the air we share' (12 Sep 2022)
Claim 8 clm-95120259c76aac51 quantitative
Delta Park has been shut since 2015
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Daily Maverick, reporting the Gauteng MEC's figures in October 2025, states that Delta Park in Johannesburg has been shut since 2015 for security reasons and is awaiting relocation; the City said in 2022 the station was still derelict due to vandalism, and the plan's 2016 site visit found it shut with all instruments removed.
Caveat
The three sources give different reasons: security reasons (province, 2025), vandalism (City, 2022), instruments removed (plan, 2016).

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Daily Maverick — Gauteng's air quality monitoring choking with most stations offline in SA's most polluted province (16 Oct 2025)
  2. City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)
  3. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
Claim 9 clm-508b91dc6baf866c descriptive
No reading triggers an automatic response, and no source states an effect of the network on pollution levels
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The plan states the purpose of monitoring as informing decisions, policy and the assessment of interventions; the City's March 2026 statement describes an advisory and an escalation after readings, not a threshold-bound action. None of the ten sources read reports a measured change in air quality attributable to the network.
Caveat
A statement of absence: it rests on what the sources do not say.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
  2. City of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026)
Claim 10 clm-48ce508e6d50682b quantitative
the City reported hydrogen sulphide peaking at 36–37 ppb and sulphur dioxide at around 52 ppb at Alexandra, advised residents to stay indoors and escalated the question of the source to the national and provincial departments
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The statement quotes the executive director that at the Alexandra station H2S peaked at approximately 36–37 ppb while sulphur dioxide peaked at around 52 ppb, advises residents to remain indoors during strong odours, and says the matter was escalated to the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the Gauteng Department of Environment.
Caveat
Operator self-report; the City's statement says the levels remained close to background and below those usually linked to significant short-term health risk.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026)
Claim 11 clm-ce82e0e6d0c22280 quantitative
the national department cited Buccleuch alongside Secunda, Springs, Irene and Midstream as stations whose peaks exceeded the WHO nuisance-odour threshold of 5.02 ppb, and attributed the plume to Mpumalanga
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The department's statement says SAAQIS data showed elevated hydrogen sulphide peaks especially at the Secunda, Springs, Irene (Pretoria), Midstream and Buccleuch stations, all significantly above the WHO recommended threshold for ambient nuisance odour of 5.02 parts per billion, and that prevailing south-easterly winds transported pollution from Mpumalanga into Gauteng.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)
Claim 12 clm-8a9804d1654feb12 quantitative
a 2024 national report records seven City stations operational over the past five years, with four to five reporting above 75% data recovery
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The Gauteng inputs slide of the national State of Air presentation (September 2024) states that 7 of the City of Johannesburg's stations have been operational over the past five years and that 4 to 5 stations report above 75% data recovery.
Caveat
A slide of provincial inputs to a governance presentation, not an audit; it does not name the stations or define the five-year window.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — State of Air Report 2004–2024: Highlights of 20 Years of NEMAQA Implementation (Sep 2024)
Claim 13 clm-36c1114df4d64afb quantitative
Buccleuch and the Crown interchange were vandalised before 2019
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
In June 2019 the MMC said two of the City's stations had been vandalised in the past, one at the Crown interchange and one in Buccleuch.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019)
Claim 14 clm-7d74cfb50d4fe40e quantitative
Davidsonville stood dark for over three years, Delta Park has been shut since 2015 and awaits relocation
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The City's 2022 statement says Davidsonville had been offline for more than three years after vandalism and theft; Daily Maverick (October 2025) reports that Delta Park has been shut since 2015 for security reasons and is awaiting relocation.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022)
  2. Daily Maverick — Gauteng's air quality monitoring choking with most stations offline in SA's most polluted province (16 Oct 2025)
Claim 15 clm-6f73da736f77861e quantitative
the City's plan dropped Ivory Park and Diepsloot from its 2004–2015 assessment for low data availability
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Section 3.2 of the plan states that, due to the low data availability percentages for Ivory Park and Diepsloot, they were not included in the assessment of the 2004–2015 data.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
Claim 16 clm-f44010b3745ce0a7 quantitative
Alexandra, was recorded as shut down since 2010 at the City's 2016 site visit
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Table 4 of the plan gives the status of each station at the May–June 2016 site visits and records the Alexandra station as not operational, shut down since 2010.
Caveat
The table cell is split across lines in the PDF; the locator is the second half of the phrase.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019)
Claim 17 clm-3dcc4305bf6ff440 quantitative
it was the hydrogen sulphide monitoring the City added after the 2022 odour episode that let it speak
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The national department's statement says that since 2022 the City of Johannesburg has invested in two additional hydrogen sulphide monitoring stations in Alexandra and Buccleuch, listed among the steps taken after the February 2022 odour episode.
Caveat
The department calls them additional stations; whether they are new analysers at the existing Alexandra and Buccleuch sites or separate installations is not stated.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)
Claim 18 clm-ec144a4d634ebe7b quantitative
the regulatory answer to sulphur — a tighter national emission limit — followed a 2022 investigation, not a city threshold
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The statement says that following the 2022 incident two legislative improvements were identified, including tightening the hydrogen sulphide emission limit for coal gasification from 3500 to 600 mg per cubic metre, published for comment in August 2025, and that the 2022 investigation found Sasol Secunda operating within legal limits that were not enough to protect public health.
Caveat
The tighter limit is a proposal published for comment, which the department expects to finalise during 2026; it is not yet in force.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-10-11-baseline effective 2026-10-11 · created 2026-10-11

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Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
18
of 18 claims mapped
10
source dossiers
8
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
City of Johannesburg, Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (Air Quality Management Unit); data published on SAAQIS, hosted by the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
Actor types
city-government, national-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
City of Johannesburg budget; the City said in June 2019 it had spent over R5 million since 2004 building and revamping the stations
Cost
Over R5 million spent building and revamping the stations between 2004 and 2019 (City figure, June 2019); the 2019 plan estimated R2 862 500 per year over four years to equip every station for all criteria pollutants
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

10 source dossiers

City of Johannesburg — Air Quality Management Plan (October 2019) joburg.org.za · 8 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-65995158764a56c3
Publisher
Name not classified · joburg.org.za
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The City's air quality management plan, dated October 2019. Section 3.1 states the network was first established in 2004 with six stations (Alexandra, Buccleuch, Delta Park, Jabavu, Newtown, Orange Farm), expanded in 2009 (Diepsloot, Ivory Park) and in 2015 (mobile station, Davidsonville), and now consists of nine stations; Table 4 records each station's status at the May–June 2016 site visits (Buccleuch not operational due to power problems, Alexandra shut down since 2010, Delta Park shut with all instruments removed, Newtown not operational, Orange Farm, Jabavu, Diepsloot, Ivory Park and Davidsonville operational); section 3.2 states that data availability per station per year was highly variable and decreased substantially over 2004–2015, and that Ivory Park and Diepsloot were excluded from the assessment for low data availability. Table 21 estimates approximately R2 862 500 per year over four years to expand all stations to all criteria pollutants.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
City of Johannesburg — City unveils revamped air quality monitoring station (7 Jun 2019) joburg.org.za · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e2c539577043145b
Publisher
Name not classified · joburg.org.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2019-06-07
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City newsroom item on the relaunch of the Orange Farm station. States that the city has nine monitoring stations across all regions, that since 2004 the City has spent over R5 million building and revamping them, that two stations (Crown interchange and Buccleuch) were vandalised in the past, and that the data is public on SAAQIS, hosted by the national environment department.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
City of Johannesburg — City of Joburg commemorates International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (8 Sep 2022) joburg.org.za · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ec26fc90282ef77e
Publisher
Name not classified · joburg.org.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-09-08
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City media statement on the re-commissioning of the Davidsonville station. States the station had been offline for more than three years following vandalism and theft, that the City operates eight stations across all regions reporting to SAAQIS, that the Delta Park station is still derelict due to vandalism, that the City also uses low-cost sensors, and that the Air Quality Management Plan had recently been adopted.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
City of Johannesburg — Joburg marks International Day for Clean Air for Blue Skies with week-long campaign (5 Sep 2025) joburg.org.za · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ecd7941d583a2a02
Publisher
Name not classified · joburg.org.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-09-05
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City newsroom item on Clean Air Week 2025. States that the City operates eight air quality monitoring stations that provide real-time data, accessible to the public through the SAAQIS website and app.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
City of Johannesburg — City of Johannesburg provides update on persistent sulphur-like odour (11 Mar 2026) joburg.org.za · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d0b82685eb541581
Publisher
Name not classified · joburg.org.za
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
2026-03-11
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City media statement on the sulphur-like odour of 9–10 March 2026. States that monitoring confirmed elevated hydrogen sulphide at the Buccleuch and Alexandra stations, that at the Alexandra station H2S peaked at approximately 36–37 ppb and sulphur dioxide at around 52 ppb, that the matter was escalated to the national and Gauteng environment departments, that residents were advised to remain indoors during strong odours, and that the City hosts no major heavy industrial operations.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment on sulphurous odour across parts of Gauteng (12 Mar 2026) gov.za · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ce8e6f010647c3bf
Publisher
Name not classified · gov.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2026-03-12
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

National department statement on the same episode. States that SAAQIS data showed hydrogen sulphide peaks at the Secunda, Springs, Irene, Midstream and Buccleuch stations above the WHO nuisance-odour threshold of 5.02 ppb, that south-easterly winds carried pollution from Mpumalanga into Gauteng, that since 2022 the City of Johannesburg has invested in two additional hydrogen sulphide monitoring stations in Alexandra and Buccleuch, and that after the 2022 investigation the department proposed tightening the hydrogen sulphide emission limit for coal gasification from 3500 to 600 mg per cubic metre.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — State of Air Report 2004–2024: Highlights of 20 Years of NEMAQA Implementation (Sep 2024) saaqis.environment.gov.za · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ee29ba30e7c6a9b1
Publisher
Name not classified · saaqis.environment.gov.za
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Presentation by the National Air Quality Officer to the 18th Air Quality Governance Lekgotla, 2–4 September 2024. The Gauteng inputs slide states that 7 of the City of Johannesburg's stations have been operational over the past five years and that 4 to 5 stations report above 75% data recovery, and that the City secured technical support from C40, GIZ, the World Bank, the Clean Air Fund and Breathe Cities.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment — Introducing Low-Cost Sensor Technologies to Improve National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (29 Sep 2025) saaqis.environment.gov.za · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1ef419da7b1af9ee
Publisher
Name not classified · saaqis.environment.gov.za
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
2025-09-29
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Department presentation to the 2025 Air Quality Governance Lekgotla. Its provincial summary lists the City of Johannesburg with six low-cost sensors that are operational but not reporting to SAAQIS, and a plan to deploy 200 sensors in Gauteng across the City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Sedibeng and the West Rand.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Daily Maverick — Gauteng's air quality monitoring choking with most stations offline in SA's most polluted province (16 Oct 2025) dailymaverick.co.za · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-32920269a9103596
Publisher
Name not classified · dailymaverick.co.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-10-16
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Reports the Gauteng MEC's figures: of the province's 31 municipal-owned stations 12 are fully operational, three partially and 16 not at all; keeping one station running costs about R500,000 a year in maintenance; and Delta Park in Johannesburg has been shut since 2015 for security reasons and is awaiting relocation. The provincial counts are not Johannesburg's and are not used in the entry.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Daily Maverick — City of Joburg reopens vandalised air quality monitoring station to clean up 'the air we share' (12 Sep 2022) dailymaverick.co.za · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-2f3fd550e33d468e
Publisher
Name not classified · dailymaverick.co.za
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-09-12
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-10-11
Dossier created
2026-10-11
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Report on the Davidsonville relaunch. States the station is one of nine across the city, that seven are operational, that Delta Park is down because of vandalism, that the station also measures solar radiation, wind and humidity, and that its data goes to a local and a national station and is shared on SAAQIS. Byline 12 September 2022, 01:42 SAST; the URL slug carries the UTC date of 11 September.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this file
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇶🇦 Doha Air Quality Monitoring Network: Measured, Published, Answered with Advice · Doha Doha's network grew from 26 to 48 stations; Johannesburg's went from nine to eight, with stations shut by vandalism and left dark. 🇮🇳 Clean Air Action Plan and Ambient Monitoring · Surat Surat runs two continuous stations under a national clean-air plan; Johannesburg's eight inform advisories, and nothing is triggered. 🇵🇹 Lisbon's Environmental Parameters Sensor Network · Lisbon Lisbon's 80 stations publish on an open city portal; Johannesburg's hourly averages go to the national SAAQIS portal, uptime the weak point.

Explore the wider context

📟 A Reading Is Not a Decision📖 Air quality index (AQI)📖 Low-emission zone📖 Open data
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Johannesburg's Ambient Air-Quality Stations: Measured, Published, Vandalised” — Johannesburg, South Africa. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/johannesburg-air-quality-monitoring/ (last verified 2026-10-11). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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