Air quality improving; smog alerts still issue

Viewing the solar eclipse Monday was hampered somewhat by central Ohio’s sixth smog alert of 2017.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission issued an air-quality alert for Franklin, Delaware, Fairfield, Knox, Licking and Madison counties. The air-quality index was expected to hit 101 Monday, but the actual number will not be calculated until Tuesday morning. The commission issues an alert when the index tops 100. That means pollution is high enough to be unhealthy for sensitive groups.

The reason? Sunshine, little wind and temperatures close to 90, combined with exhaust from cars and trucks, said Brooke White, the air-quality program coordinator for the planning commission.

Active children, older people and those suffering from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are vulnerable. Those groups should limit prolonged outdoor activity to decrease their risk of health problems.

The index runs from 0 to 500. A level of 151 begins to affect the general population.

Despite the latest smog alert, the region’s air quality has improved over the past 30 years, White said. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened standards in 2015, lowering the acceptable concentration of ozone in the air from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion, she said. Under those standards, the two worst years since 1993 were 1998 and 1999, when ozone topped 70 parts per billion on nearly 70 days each year.

The agency reviews the national ambient airquality standards every five years, White said.

In April, the American Lung Association released its State of the Air report, tracking smog and soot pollution in 220 U.S. metro areas. And although central Ohio’s air quality is improving, it can get better, officials said then. Columbus was among the country’s cleanest cities for shortterm soot pollution, and Franklin County reduced its weighted average to five days each year of unhealthy smog levels between 2013 and 2015.

That was better than the previous report’s average of 12 days, but it still earned central Ohio an F for smog. That’s because five days a year was still too many, said Janice Nolen, assistant vice president for policy for the American Lung Association in Washington.

The raw ingredients for ozone come from tailpipes and smokestacks, Nolen said. Cleaning up power plants and auto emissions reduces those pollutants, she said.

The air forecast for Tuesday is good, White said, because rain and storms are expected to clear the air.