Senator Whipple's Richmond Report

As summer seems to have arrived early this year, with lots of heat and humidity, it's none too soon to be talking about air quality.

Not long ago, in between trips to Richmond, I attended my monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee (MWAQC). We discussed the likelihood of more ozone action days this summer.

The new 8-hour standard for air quality goes into effect this year in place of the old one-hour standard. That means that our area will be more likely to have days when ozone exceeds the standard and that more areas in the state will not attain air quality.

Last year there were only 3 days with ozone exceedences in the Washington area, but judged by the new standard there would have been 7. In 2002, a particularly bad year, there were 9 exceedences but using the new standard there would have been 38.

Because the ozone will be measured over an 8-hour period, we won't know until the end of the day if there has been an exceedence, so MWAQC will have to do its best to forecast ozone action days. On those days people are encouraged to use transit or carpool, fill their gas tanks and mow the lawn in the evening, and take other actions to reduce air pollution.

Forecasting is important so people can take precautions to protect their health.

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children, and even healthy adults may experience health effects when air pollution levels are high (Code Orange or worse). Should air quality exceed the federal health standard, an Air Quality Code Red Health Advisory will be issued advising the following precautions:

*children and older adults should reduce outdoor activities

*Healthy individuals should limit strenuous work or exercise, especially outdoors

*Individuals with respiratory and heart ailments, emphysema, asthma, or chronic bronchitis should limit their activity level.

We also talked about a new category: Code Purple. It is quite likely we may experience some Code Purple days. That means the air quality is very unhealthy. According to the EPA, "active children and adults, and people with lung disease such as asthma,should avoid all outdoor exertion. Everyone else, especially children, should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors."

In addition to problems with ozone, particle pollution is a hazard. Particles that are less than 10 micrometers in diameter are so small that they can get into the lungs, potentially causing serious health problems (Ten micrometers is smaller than the width of a single human hair.)

These particles can cause or aggravate a number of health problems and have been linked with illnesses and deaths from heart or lung diseases.

This year the primary pollutant, either ozone or particles, will be listed on the air quality hotline (202-962-3200), with both pollutants listed on the web site (www.mwcog.org/dep/air/air quality).