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Season's ozone air-pollution levels hit record lows
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Published: October 5, 2009
RALEIGH - RALEIGH — The state's ozone air pollution levels in 2009 are the lowest since the North Carolina began monitoring air quality in the 1970s, state air-quality officials said yesterday.
The summer's low ozone levels were caused by favorable weather patterns and declining emissions from industry and motor vehicles, N.C. Division of Air Quality data show.
Through Sept. 30 that marked the end of the ozone forecast season, the state had only six days in 2009 when ozone levels exceeded the eight-hour standard of 0.075 parts per million.
The previous lowest year was 2004, when 27 days exceeded the same standard for ozone levels. Since 2000, there have been an average of 51 days per year when the ozone levels exceeded the standard.
Ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen that's unhealthy to breathe and damages trees and crops. Although ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, ground-level ozone — the main ingredient in smog — is formed when vehicle exhaust and industrial chemicals mix in heat and sunlight. Smog can damage lung tissue and aggravate such respiratory conditions as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.
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