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Poor Air Quality Predicted for All Six New England States for Monday, July 23 and Tuesday July 24

Release Date: 07/23/2001
Contact Information: Andrew Spejewski, EPA Press Office (617-918-1014)

BOSTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is predicting unhealthy air quality for both Monday, July 23, and Tuesday, July 24. Unhealthful levels of ground-level ozone are predicted for all of Connecticut, all of Rhode Island, most of Massachusetts (except for SouthCoast, Cape Cod and the Islands), the coastal areas of Maine, all of southern New Hampshire and extreme southern Vermont on both days. The forecast of hot weather for today and tomorrow is also expected to increase the demand for electricity in New England to reach peak load levels.

Ground level ozone, the main ingredient of smog, is unhealthy when average concentrations exceed 0.08 parts per million over an eight-hour period. So far this year, there have been 17 days when ozone monitors in New England have recorded concentrations above this level. (A preliminary list of the unhealthy readings recorded so far this summer can be found at https://www.epa.gov/region01/airquality/o3exceed-01.html.) Yesterday, Sunday, July 22, unhealthy air quality was recorded in central Connecticut and western and central Massachusetts. This bad air day sets the stage for even poorer air quality today and tomorrow.

Exposure to elevated ozone levels can cause serious breathing problems, aggravate asthma and other pre-existing lung diseases, and make people more susceptible to respiratory infection. The most common symptoms of ozone exposure are coughing, pain when taking a deep breath, and for people with respiratory disease, shortness of breath.

"When smog levels are up, New Englanders should refrain from strenuous outdoor activity, especially sensitive populations such as children and adults with respiratory problems," said Ira Leighton, Acting Regional Administrator for EPA's New England office. "Up to 20 percent of summertime respiratory-related hospital visits in New England are directly attributable to ozone."

Ground-level ozone (smog) is formed when volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen interact in the presence of sunlight. Cars, trucks and buses give off the majority of the pollution that makes smog. Fossil fuel burning at electric powerplants, particularly on hot days, give off a lot of smog-making pollution. Gas stations, print shops, household products like paints and cleaners, as well as lawn and garden equipment also add significantly to the ozone smog.

When air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, EPA asks the public to take ozone action. You or your employer can help get rid of ozone-smog by limiting the things you do that make air pollution. For instance:

• use public transportation, or walk whenever possible;
  
• if you must drive, car pool and combine trips;
  
• go to the gas station at night to cut down on gasoline vapors getting into the air during day light hours when the sun can cook the vapors and form ozone;
  
• avoid using gasoline powered engines, such as lawn mowers, chain saws, leaf blowers on unhealthy air days.

In an effort to better inform New Englanders about "real-time" ozone levels, the EPA maintains an ozone mapping system, which shows real-time images and daily forecasts of ground-level ozone levels. The daily ozone forecast is available on the EPA's air pollution web site at https://www.epa.gov/region01/aqi.

Citizens can also sign up at this web address to receive smog alerts from EPA's New England office. Smog Alert is a free service provided by EPA in conjunction with the New England states which automatically notifies you by e-mail or fax when high concentrations of ground-level ozone are predicted in your area. Smog Alerts are issued to notify interested persons of predicted poor air quality in specific geographical areas of New England throughout the smog season, May through September.