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Ed Yeates reportingIf you thought the hazy ozone days of summer were bad last year, wait until this summer! Tougher EPA standards on ozone levels went into effect two months ago.
Summer along the Wasatch Front means a different kind of pollution than we deal with in the winter. Under blue skies, the sun cooks up what we dish out to make ozone.
As of March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a new, tighter restriction, 75 parts per billion to be exact, for ozone in the air over urban environments. That means we will breach that level this summer, where we didn't in the past.
It also means more red alert days. "So we are expecting about double the number of red days, so maybe 30 to 40 red days this summer. And we will have days in which we are issuing health advisories because we are exceeding the health standard," explained Bryce Bird, with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
The sky looks blue, the air clear, but ozone is there, invisible to the eye. Too much is bad because it gets into the elastic parts of our lungs and causes irritation.
The recipe for that bad ozone comes from every volatile organic compound we throw into the air; for example, paint, solvent and gasoline vapors. Add these ingredients to nitrogen oxides that come from combustion -- like mowers, cars, trucks and summer wildfires -- concentrate that in the big pot that is our valleys, allow the sun too cook it up a bit, and voilà! You've got ozone!
If you think the lawn in front of DEQ right now looks ragged and long, you're right. But there's good reason: The agency is not cutting the lawn because it doesn't want to contribute to the ozone problem.
Bird says when you hear about an upcoming red alert day, put off mowing a few days or cut in the early morning or evening when ozone levels have dropped. He also suggests we reduce driving by combining trips.
Bird says we should also limit our outdoor exercise on red alert days as well. "We would encourage people, and even schools and sports teams and things like that, to look at the forecast, look at the current concentrations, and really focus on those activities in the early morning or late evening hours," he said.
The air is better before noon and after 6:00 in the evening. So, since this is a yellow day, wait until about 6 p.m before you go out running.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
