Post on 27-Dec-2015
State of the Air Report 2011
Katie KingDirector, Health Promotion & Public PolicyAmerican Lung Association of New England
• Annual American Lung Association nationwide report on air pollution
• Gives A- F and Pass/Fail grades to 900 counties with monitors
• Provides data by county, state info by zip code• Ranks 25 metro areas with worst/least pollution
What is the State of the Air?
Why do we publish State of the Air?
• Puts air pollution into everyday language• Gives public local information• Focuses attention on ozone and particle pollution• Tells people how to protect themselves • Encourages and supports programs to cut pollution
and improve air quality
What We Grade• Ozone (O3)
• Particle pollution (PM2.5)– Short-term spikes (24-hour) – Year-round measures
(annual average)
Where ALA gets the data:
Once ALA gets the data:
What do the grades mean?
• A = 0 days with unhealthy levels over 3 years
• B = 1 to 2 unhealthy days
• C = 3 to 6 unhealthy days
• D= 7 to 9 unhealthy days
• F= 9 or more unhealthy days
Year-Round Particle Pollution
• No AQI exists to use as a scale• Graded Pass/Fail compared to
national standard of 15.0 μg/m3 • Use EPA’s calculation for each
county
15.1+ = Fail
15.0 or less= Pass
www.stateoftheair.org
• Type in zip code to get county grades
• Compare air quality in two cities
• Get rankings for every city
• Get trend charts for every city
Metro Area Trend charts show progress