Air Quality

Do you ever wonder what is floating in the air you breathe? The quality of the air around you is crucial to your health. Air quality refers to the cleanliness of the surrounding air. For example, clean, unpolluted air would be considered good air quality. Poor air quality is when pollution levels become dangerous to humans or the environment. To measure the air quality, people use what is called the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI releases daily reports of the air quality. It also focuses on the concerns you should have about each level of air quality. The EPA calculates the AQI for the five most common air pollutants: ground level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The AQI is measure on a scale for 0-500 and is divided into six categories.

1. Good: (Green) this level ranges from 0-50. In this state, the air level is considered satisfactory and are not dangerous to humans nor the environment
2. Moderate: (Yellow) this level ranges from 51-100 AQI. This air is alright to live in, it won’t kill you. However, it can bring about health concerns to a small amount of sensitive people breathing in this air.
3. Unhealthy for sensitive groups: (Orange) This level ranges from 101-150. People with lung disease, or elderly adults and children would not be very safe breathing in this air. The general public however would be fine.
4. Unhealthy: (Red) Ranges from 151-200. Just about everyone would experience some kind of negative health effects from this air.
5. Very Unhealthy: (Purple) AQI is 201-300. Can bring about serious health concerns. Public notifications would be sent out.
6. Hazardous: (maroon) Any AQI greater than 300. This level of pollution would be an emergency.

The AQI lists five of the highest ranking polluted air as of today, March 23, 2017.

1. (From lowest to highest) C San Bernardino, California. It has a moderate AQI of 68.
2. Nogales, Arizona. This city also has a moderate AQI of 68.
3. Metro Riverside, California. The air level is still moderate, but has an AQI of 70. Since California is on this list twice out of all 50 states!
4. Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Moderate air level with an AQI as high as 80.
5. The city with the highest level of air pollution is Miami, Florida. This air level is actually listed as unhealthy. A health message to sensitive people was posted on the EPA’s AQI forecast website.

To control air quality throughout the country, states have a State Implementation Plan (SIP). The SIP is a plan of control strategies to keep the air quality at a healthy level. Once this plan is created it must be approved by the EPA. The Clean Air Act also requires that the EPA set a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for harmful pollutants. These standards are designed to protect human health nationally. Below are the set standards for common pollutants:

1. Ozone: 0.070ppm
2. PM 2.5: 12.0 ug/m3
3. Sulfur Dioxide: 75ppb
4. Nitrogen Dioxide: 100 ppb
5. Lead: 0.15 ug/m3