AIR QUALITY

The Air Quality program focuses on reducing environmental factors that are harmful to lung health.

Air Quality Programs:

Voluntary Ozone Reduction Campaign - a project that collects and disseminates real-time air pollution information to the media and the public in the St. Louis metropolitan area. This program is designed to educate the public about the connection between air pollution and its health effects. Log on to www.cleanair-stlouis.com to learn more about this program and how you can help clean the air.

Tools for Schools - a comprehensive program that identifies and mitigates indoor air pollutants in schools. Schools also participate in other voluntary ozone reduction activities.

Community Projects - ALAM participates in various community outreach projects focusing on radon, carbon monoxide and other air pollutants in an effort to raise public awareness.

Ground-level ozone has serious health effects. It irritates the lungs, eyes and other tissues and can cause or worsen respiratory problems. Symptoms include coughing, throat irritation, chest pain when inhaling deeply, and breathing difficulty. Ozone also can increase the susceptibility of the lungs to infections, allergens and other air pollutants.

Annually, approximately 4,000 individuals in the St. Louis area are hospitalized for asthma, many of these visits occurring when the air quality is at its worst.

Groups that are sensitive to ozone include children who are active outdoors, outdoor workers, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma or emphysema. Even healthy individuals can feel the effects of poor air quality when exercising outdoors.

The estimated health cost of air pollution is over $50 million each year.

Automobiles are one of the most significant causes of air pollution. In fact, mobile sources, including automobiles, account for about 30 percent of the emissions that form ground-level ozone in our region.

As the St. Louis region continues to tackle its air quality problem, organizers behind the regional clean air effort are urging area residents and businesses to be proactive in their efforts to care about clean air. The following tips can be followed throughout the summer months to minimize ozone pollution and bring us one step closer to cleaner air.

Tips for Individuals

Try an alternative work commute. Ride the bus or take MetroLink. Carpool or vanpool. Ride your bike.

Bring your lunch to work to avoid car trips and resulting emissions during the heat of the day - the worst time for ozone formation.

Make sure your car is properly maintained - a well-running car doesn't pollute as much.

Fuel after 7 p.m. or before 10 a.m. When you finish fueling your vehicle, wait three seconds before removing the nozzle and don't top off your tank.

On days when the ozone levels are moderately high, individuals with asthma or other lung disease, and those who must work outdoors, should take it easy and limit their exertion during the times they are outside.

On days when the ozone levels are high, everyone should avoid long periods of time outdoors.

More than 300 area businesses already are working with the St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership to help clear our air. Following are some tips regarding the types of activities other businesses can consider to be a part of the clean air effort.

Call 1-800-LUNG-USA to find out how you can appoint a Clean Air Coordinator and begin implementing clean air policies at your work site. We'll make it possible for you to give employees advance notice about red and orange-day forecasts, and provide a variety of marketing materials you can use to remind employees about what they can do to improve our air quality.

Start a ridesharing program at your work site to make alternatives such as carpooling and vanpooling easier for your employees. RideFinders can help to get your program rolling so you can offer this no-cost employee benefit to all employees. Call (800) VIP-RIDE.

Become a transit pass vendor to make it easier for employees to try transit.

Consider implementing flextime or telecommuting programs.

Postpone landscape (mowing) and site maintenance (painting) activities on poor air quality days.

Limit use of automotive fleets, particularly on days when the ozone level is moderate to high.

Delay refueling of fleet vehicles and equipment until non-peak hours, which are before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m.

People in St. Louis drive more than 55 million miles every day, producing over 125 tons of ozone forming hydrocarbons daily.

A single highway lane can accommodate 2,250 people per hour in cars and 9,000 people per hour in buses. Two MetroLink tracks have the same capacity as 16 lanes of highway.

Carpools and vanpools currently registered with RideFinders carry 3,397 people and are responsible for eliminating 266,320 daily single-occupancy-vehicle trips.

Ozone is a colorless gas that can be found in the air we breathe. Each molecule of ozone is composed of three atoms of oxygen, one more than the oxygen molecule that we need to breathe to sustain life. The additional oxygen atom makes ozone extremely reactive. Ozone exists naturally in the earth's upper atmosphere, the stratosphere, where it shields the earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. However, when ozone forms close to the earth's surface, it poses a threat to human health.

St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership