SMOG SEASON IN SWING

DES MOINES—The nation’s smog season has begun, the time of year when air pollution agencies across the nation, including Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources, turn on equipment to monitor ground-level ozone, a key pollutant found in smog.

“The state has 13 ozone monitors across Iowa that run April 1 to October 31 -- the time of year when warm temperatures and strong sunlight can cook emissions from vehicles and factories and fumes from paints and chemicals to form ozone smog,” said Brian Button, DNR air information specialist.

He said summer smog levels can make air quality unhealthy for certain groups of people such as children and asthmatics if those people are out-of-doors for long periods of time while exerting themselves.

He said Iowa’s air quality meets federal health standards for ozone, but areas of the state are pushing the standards. “Extreme eastern and western Iowa is at 92 percent of the allowed standard. Pollution increases could push us over the federal standards and additional regulations would be required.” Button said much work is going on at the state and federal level to help maintain air quality and prevent such an occurrence.

“Iowa’s air is still much better than many areas of the nation where unhealthy air is routine and at levels much higher than what we occasionally have in Iowa.” He said our clean air status saves Iowans millions of dollars annually in reduced health care and regulatory costs.

Iowans can view current air quality data on the current air quality page located on this site.