Air Quality Index

EPA's Air Quality Index Gives Citizens Critical Information to Take Necessary Health Precautions, Including a Category for Those With Special Health Conditions Like Asthma. The Air Quality Index provides a uniform format nationwide as well as health messages for sensitive groups, such as children with asthma. This index is used by local weather forecasters throughout the country to provide improved information about levels of local air pollution and the precautions people should take to protect themselves on days when air pollution exceeds health standards and poses threats to public health. This effort is part of the EPA's longstanding commitment to expand the public's right to know about environmental conditions in their communities. The features of the Air Quality Index include:

A category that provides specific warnings for sensitive groups, like children with asthma and others with special respiratory conditions.
Detailed warnings about how all people should protect themselves and their families from harmful levels of air pollution.
Warnings based on the most up-to-date scientific information on the known health effects of air pollution levels.

In addition to the Air Quality Index, EPA is making information about summer smog available on its Internet web site, which currently shows animated maps of smog dispersion in real-time for most of the states. This Ozone Mapping Project, as it is called, is part of a program to provide Americans with even greater access to information about pollution in their communities. The Ozone Mapping Project is available at http://airnow.gov/. This web site also shows forecasts of local air quality for the next day.

Click here to view the Guide to the new Air Quality Index.

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Air Quality Index

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