An Air Quality Monitoring station has been set up in High River.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says the Calgary Region Airshed Zone decided it was the right place to deploy it.

"The monitoring station is there to assess air quality, so it looks at chemicals in the air, it looks at particulates in the air all those kinds of things. That station cannot gauge 'stink level' so it's there to measure air quality, not the smell of the air," he explained.

Many residents have complained about the smell from Rimrock Feeders and the possibility of unhealthy contaminants coming from there.

The mayor says the station will give them a baseline when it comes to particulates in the air.

That could be important down the road.

"If the bio-digester does go through and we see elevated levels of x, y and z then we can challenge and deal with those kinds of things so we will have direct data on that. So, although the monitoring station doesn't gauge 'stink' it will gauge what's in the air and we'll have a baseline for the future."

The Town of High River did an assessment of several areas to provide a suitable location for the trailer. Criteria included no obstructions such as tall trees or buildings that could impact monitoring.

The monitoring station will be set up for one year.