More Ozone Alert Days Expected This Year

Ground-level ozone irritates the respiratory passages and may have especially adverse impacts on children, the elderly, and those with asthma and other respiratory conditions. Even healthy young adults and people who exercise or work outdoors can suffer from high levels of ozone pollution, according to the American Lung Association.

This year, environmental officials are warning that there may be an increase in the number of days when people who have trouble breathing should stay indoors, because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised the national standard for ozone.

On March 12, the EPA strengthened the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone to help improve the protection of public health.

The new ozone standard of 0.075 parts per million, ppm, was tightened from the previous standard of 0.084 ppm, set in 1997.

Smog hangs over Chicago. (Photo by Storm Williams)

In Illinois, the Chicago metropolitan area and the Metro-East St. Louis region are likely to experience an increase in air pollution days, says Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Doug Scott.

"We anticipate that air quality forecasting for 2008 may include more Air Pollution Action Days," said Scott. "This is due to the more stringent federal ozone standard that was recently implemented."

U.S. EPA has adjusted the Air Quality Index, or AQI, to reflect the new ozone standard.

States use the AQI to forecast each day's air quality according to a six colored system ranging from "Good" or green to "Hazardous" or maroon.

With the revised AQI, it is expected that Illinois metropolitan areas will see more days in the "Moderate" or yellow range and days in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" category, colored orange, which Scott says may also trigger more Air Pollution Action Day announcements.

Kansas City, Missouri, the Mid-America Regional Council, MARC, is bracing for the new, stricter ozone standard.

"The health effects of exposure to ground-level ozone are well documented," says MARC Air Quality Program Manager James Joerke. "We want to make sure that area residents know when bad air quality is expected so that they can take steps to reduce emissions and protect their health."

Urban areas like Kansas City will see an increase in the number of ozone alerts issued over the course of summer. Joerke says that where the region typically experiences around 10 ozone alert days per summer, this year the number of ozone alerts may be closer to 25.

The more stringent standard also means that unhealthy concentrations of ozone may develop even on days that are not particularly hot or sunny.

In urban areas like metropolitan Kansas City, emissions from cars and trucks, lawnmowers, and industrial and commercial sources are chemically transformed by heat and sunlight to form ground-level ozone.

Because half of all ozone-forming emissions come from everyday activities like driving a car, refueling, mowing the lawn, and using paints and solvents around the house, area residents can play an important role in reducing emissions, says Joerke.

When an ozone alert is issued, carpooling, eliminating nonessential car trip, and refueling in the evening hours help reduce emissions that form ozone. Avoiding the use of gas-powered yard equipment and paints, solvents and lighter fluid also helps minimize ozone pollution.

The SkyCast is the Kansas City region's daily ozone forecast and is issued each afternoon from April1 through October 31. Area residents can use the SkyCast to plan their activities in order to minimize emissions and to protect their health when high ozone concentrations are forecast.

SkyCasts are reported on the MARC website, www.marc.org, on the air quality information line 913-383-7557, and through area media outlets. SkyCast is coordinated through MARC, with forecasting services provided by Weather or Not, Inc.

While air quality and public health officials prepare for a greater number of high-ozone days, the American Lung Association's top official says the new national ozone standard is not protective enough.

Bernadette Toomey, president and chief executive of the American Lung Association, says the EPA's own expert scientific advisors unanimously recommended a stronger standard that would provide much more protection - advice the agency ignored. Sixteen major medical societies and public health organizations, including the American Lung Association, repeatedly urged the EPA to follow the overwhelming evidence for a truly protective standard.

"Our recommendations also went unheeded," Toomey said. "EPA's decisions today represent a compromise the public can ill afford."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.