NATALIE ANDREWS - Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2007 11:00 pm
Brown haze over Utah Valley translated into coughing and indoor recess for children this winter. Who would've guessed that it was lingering to set a recordfi
With 25 red air quality days between Nov. 1 and Feb. 28, the period had the worst air quality ever recorded.
A day is listed red when the air has 35 micrograms per cubic meter of a pollutant known as PM 2.5. The Division of Air Quality asks residents to limit driving and use of wood-burning stoves is prohibited on those days because emissions play a big part in air quality.
For the same period in 2005-2006, there was only one red day, and the year before that there were zero.
There were 12 yellow -- or caution days -- last winter. That isn't a record because there were 13 yellow days in the 2005-2006 winter. On yellow days, the Division of Air Quality asks residents to be aware of emissions and limit them.
Donna Kemp Spangler, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Quality, said the number may be deceiving. Federal standards changed this winter, starting on Dec. 18, from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to the 35 micrograms limit, making it much easier to have a red day.
The change was done because a person's health is at risk when pollutants reach the 35 micrograms per cubic meter mark, Spangler said.
"We're going to call it much quicker and let people know that you can do some proactive measures," Spangler said.
Proactive health measures include staying indoors, especially if one has a lung condition. Children, as well as senior citizens who have compromised immune systems, should stay indoors on red days.
"It affects everyone," Spangler said. "Health studies have shown that even a healthy person, if they have prolonged exposures to the pollution, it can damage your lungs."
Utah County Health Department spokesman Lance Madigan said health problems come because lungs help the body emit toxins, and breathing them in doesn't help.
Utah County school districts followed the red day advice. Nebo School District spokeswoman Lana Hiskey said that when the air was listed as unhealthy, very unhealthy or hazardous, children were kept indoors.
"For health reasons for the students," she said. "We want to keep our students safe." Other activities were provided at the schools for the students instead.
There is no way to predict what next winter will be like, but Spangler said it is important to learn to reduceemissions of pollutants, such as those emitted by driving and burning wood. Vehicles emit 55 percent of the air pollution.
For more information about air quality and to sign up for a daily e-mail about air quality, go to www.cleanair.utah.gov.
Natalie Andrews can be reached at 344-2561 or nandrews@heraldextra.com.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.