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Its that time of year when air quality starts to play a significant part in our lives. It's no secret, Charlotte is a rapidly growing city. With more vehicles on the road how bad is our air? Laureen Kickham commutes from Gaston County to attend Central Piedmont. She says, "I believe it's pretty bad. I believe the air quality is not so good." She knows all too well about ozone action days. Kickham has asthma, "Yes, it is scary because if we don't get a handle on this now I'm afraid of what may happen down the line." The North Carolina Division of Air Quality issues daily Ozone Forecasts from April 1st through October 30th. Different colors show the levels of the air quality. Green is good and purple means it's very unhealthy. "It gives our residents, industry and schools, warning if there's going to be a bad ozone day so people that have certain problems that bad air quality effects can take precaution, " says Alan Giles Senior Air Quality Specialist for Mecklenburg County's Air Quality Team. June and July were the worst months last year. Giles says, "Ozone is very weather dependent when we have a really hot, dry, stagnant summer. We are going to have problems." In addition, He stated, "Our main problem in Mecklenburg County is car and truck exhaust." Here are a few tips to keeping our ozone levels low. First try a cleaner commute like car pooling. Second combine your errands so you don't have to keep starting your car and do not top off your fuel tank. It's bad for the environment and bad on your wallets. Efforts to improve ozone action days in the Charlotte region are working. Giles states, "We're on a downward trend. We're getting better we still have not met the standard." |
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