![Krista Villarreal](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/waitingtoinhale2.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
Channel
5 meteorologist Krista Villarreal (’98 M.B.A.) keeps viewers
informed about local air quality through the Air Pollution Watch
and Warning Program |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
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IT WAS SUMMERTIME
IN A HOT CITY AND the living was supposed to be easy. But for some
citizens in the Metroplex, that was far from true. Last summer,
light wind, no cloud cover, high temperatures and low rainfall created
more than just uncomfortable conditions. With 84 consecutive days
of no rainfall and 46 days of 100-degree temperatures, a serious
health threat was imminent.
An
unhealthy concoction
The weather
was a recipe for health problems, according to Troy Stuckey (99
Ph.D.), an environmental scientist who is currently a regional pesticides
enforcement coordinator at the Environmental Protection Agency.
With
the combination of morning pollution emissions and certain afternoon
weather conditions, the Metroplex can bake up an unhealthy concoction
that is an ozone threat, he says.
The interaction
of weather conditions with pollution emitted from vegetation and
manmade sources, such as industrial plants, vehicles, factories
and paints, results in high ozone levels and poor air quality.
Stuckey
explains that ozone in the stratosphere protects life from dangerous
ultraviolet rays, but at ground level it can be harmful.
Ozone makes
people especially those with respiratory illnesses
more susceptible to disease. And it causes difficulty in breathing
by irritating the lungs lining, causing the muscle in the
lung to contract and breathing tubes to constrict.
Meeting
of the minds
![Troy Stuckey](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/waitingtoinhale4.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
Environmental
scientist Troy Stuckey (’99 Ph.D.) coordinated a network of
experts to help create the ozone warning program. |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
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How to warn
residents about the unseen threat of ozone was an issue that weather
professionals and representatives of public health and environmental
agencies gathered to discuss in the fall of 1999.
Joining
in the discussions were three Metroplex participants with UNT ties:
Stuckey, meteorologist Krista Villarreal (98 M.B.A.) of KXAS-TV
Channel 5 and Don Wall, the WFAA-TV Channel 8 environmental reporter
and current UNT environmental ethics graduate student.
Working
with government agencies, weather experts and health organizations,
the UNT-connected participants helped to create the Air Pollution
Watch and Warning Program.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
![Don Wall's](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/waitingtoinhale3.jpg) |
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif) |
The ozone
warning program benefited from Don Wall’s expertise as an environmental
reporter for Channel 8. |
The program
advises North Texas residents about the quality of air to expect
each day. Advisories classify air quality from good to bad, using
colors to represent different levels of health threats. Green represents
a good air quality day (low ozone levels); yellow, moderate; orange,
unhealthy for sensitive groups; red, unhealthy for everyone; and
purple, very unhealthy.
Spreading
the word
Since Stuckey,
Villarreal and Wall helped to launch the program in May 2000, Metroplex
residents have had the opportunity to make informed choices about
outdoor exposure.
People who
have immune deficiencies or respiratory diseases can take special
care during times of high ozone exposure. Sports enthusiasts can
choose to take shelter inside until the ozone threat abates.
Coaches
can monitor the pollution warning system to determine if children
should play outdoor sports. Senior citizens who garden can choose
to plant indoors or in a greenhouse.
Today, the
program is a regular part of the weather forecast on Channel 5 and
Channel 8. It is also reported on the Spanish language station Telemundo
52 and other Metroplex television outlets.
Not only
is the warning program broadcast on television and radio, but it
is also disseminated via electronic signs along area highways and
through the local web site DFW
clean air.
Before
this program was started, everyone was using different verbiage
to describe ozone days, Villarreal says. Now, concerned
viewers call me and ask what color the day will be.
Wall says
the program may prove beneficial to the environment as well as to
residents.
When
people gain greater awareness of the ecological problems affecting
them, they tend to advocate for change. Thats when progress
can be made.
Common
ground
Now that
the Air Pollution Watch and Warning Program is in place, the UNT-connected
participants continue to use their expertise in educating and informing
the public about environmental issues.
When Stuckey
leaves his office on Tuesday afternoons, he drives to UNT, where
he teaches an environmental class. He arrives at the classroom,
positions himself in front of a board and teaches about ozone.
On a typical
day, Wall stands outside in front of a camera, adjusting to the
bright sun. Lights flash and he begins to report on the air quality
in Dallas.
That same
day might find Villarreal standing in front of a blue screen, smiling
into a studio camera. Soon, a graph will appear and shell
tell the Metroplex audience that its a green day. This day
in the city, all is well with the ozone. ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/stopdot.gif)
Air
quality index
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/waitingtoinhale5.jpg) |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif)
Good |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif)
Moderate
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting prolonged
outdoor exertion.
|
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif)
Unhealthy
for
sensitive groups
Active children and adulst and people
with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged
outdoor exertion. |
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif)
Unhealthy
Active children and adults and people with respiratory disease,
such as asthma, should avoid prolonged exertion; everyone else,
especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
|
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untfall2010/20101201042530im_/http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/images/shim.gif)
Very
unhealthy
Active children and adults and people with respiratory disease,
such as asthma, should avoid all exertion; everyone else, especially
children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. |
Source:
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Environmental
Protection Agency Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. |
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