AIR AWARENESS PROGRAM

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4. Public and news media outreach. The most visible element of the program is the ozone forecast, seen by a large segment of the public on local TV news weather segments.
   

• Since its inception in 1996, North Carolina's program has focused on ground-level ozone pollution, as ozone has been the air pollutant of greatest concern in the state.  However, program staff is developing plans to incorporate particle pollution (PM2.5) materials and information into the program.
  

• In the Charlotte metropolitan area, mobile sources of pollution account for about 94% of all pollution.  While this decreases somewhat in more rural areas, mobile sources are a key to air quality in the majority of the region.
  

• The ground-level ozone forecast for the Charlotte region includes the following counties: Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Rowan, Union (NC), and the southern third of Iredell County.  South Carolina issues forecasts for Chester, Lancaster and York Counties.
  

Q:  What is the Air Awareness Report saying when it talks about the "AQI"? 
A: The Air Quality Index (AQI) is used for reporting daily air quality.  It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what health concerns are associated with different levels of pollution.  The AQI, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, focuses on health effects that can occur within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air.  The AQI covers five major air pollutants regulated by the federal Clean Air Act: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.  The AQI reported on the Division of Air Quality's ozone forecast website is for ozone only.  This may differ from what is reported in the paper if another pollutant has a greater AQI value for the day. AQI values below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory.  When AQI values are above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy--at first for certain "at risk" groups of people such as children or the elderly, then for everyone as AQI values get higher.

Q:  I though we were trying to save the ozone layer?

A:  We are trying to save "stratospheric" ozone that occurs more than 10 miles above the earth and protects us from the sun's ultraviolet rays.  However, ozone also occurs in the troposphere, the  layer at the earth's surface, where all animal and plant life is contained.  Here, "ground-level" ozone (formed primarily through man-made activities) acts as an air pollutant that damages human health, vegetation, wildlife, and many common materials. 

Q:  What is being done to inform citizens about ground-level ozone and its effects in the Carolinas? 

A:  The NC Air Awareness Program and the South Carolina Spare the Air Campaign were designed to inform citizens about ground-level ozone and its effects.  Through web sites, toll-free hotlines, brochures, school visits, public events, local media coverage, interactions with local business coalitions and government, and participation with citizens groups, these programs work to educate the public on air quality issues, particularly ground-level ozone, its formation, effects, and sources. The programs help educate the citizens on how their daily actions affect air quality and help the public make informed decisions about their activities.

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