‘State of the Air’: Utah among top 10 states for worst ozone pollution, according to report

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Salt Lake City is in the top ten for worst ozone pollution in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association.

The American Lung Association’s 26th annual “State of the Air” report finds that nearly half of the U.S. population is living in unhealthy levels of air pollution — Utah ranking #9 among the “most polluted cities” in the U.S. by ozone pollution.

Ozone is a gas molecule that is found high in the upper atmosphere, where it shields people from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, but when ozone air pollution is at ground level, where people breathe, it can lead to health problems.

“Ozone aggressively attacks lung tissue by reacting chemically with it,” the American Lung Association states.

The report said that the geographical distribution of citations on the Worst 25 list follows a pattern seen consistently in the last decade, where the highest levels of ozone pollution more often occur in the west.

“Although cleanup of ozone precursor pollutants from industrial, power generation,
and mobile sources has been working to reduce ozone concentrations, the impact of
climate change has resulted in widespread wildfire disasters and has also meant higher
temperatures, dry, sunny skies and more frequent stagnation events. Taken together,
these conditions produced much higher numbers of unhealthy ozone days than would
otherwise be the case,” the report said.

The cities on the list of the worst 25 for ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution are ranked according to their weighted average number of unhealthy air days.

“Note that some cities rank high on one list and don’t show up on other lists because of the differences in their pollution problems,” the website said.

What does this mean for Utahns?

The Utah Division of Air Quality admits there are challenges with ozone pollution, especially now and in the next couple of months.

“Those emissions are then acted upon by warm temperatures and sunlight, and then that forms a reactive form of the oxygen molecule, ozone that then interacts with the lungs and, of course, causes the health harm that we’re really concerned about,” Utah Division of Air Quality Director Bryce Bird said.

In the American Lung Association’s findings, 27 counties in the U.S received failing grades for all three measures of pollution. Salt Lake is one of them.

Bird said the Environmental Protection Agency scale paints a different picture.

“For a daily PM2.5, we’re meeting that standard. For annual PM 2.5, we’re meeting the standard and we’re currently not meeting the ozone standard, but that is just a little bit different scale, a different focus, but the Lung Association is there to push policy, push action,” Bird said.

“PM2.5″ refers to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. These are inhalable fine particles that can cause various health problems and are regulated by agencies like the U.S EPA.

Bird said to focus on scaling back on emissions, especially cars and trucks, as they are the largest of those emissions and affect people.

“Extra burden on your lungs. Really, it is an irritant. Of course, it’s a trigger for asthma. We see higher asthma utilization and higher hospitalization rates for asthma during those days, so it is a serious concern for us,” he said.

Bird adds ozone peaks in the afternoon. So, he says exercising in the mornings and evenings can get you away from the bad air that can harm your health.