While the overall air quality in the Baltimore region has improved over the years, the area still leads the state in cases of asthma, particularly in children.
Daily air quality forecasts for up to the next three days give asthma sufferers a short-term planning guide in the form of a color-coded Air Quality Action Guide. “We?ve been doing color codes since 1995,” said Randy Mosier, board member for Clean Air Partners, an advocacy group of business and government organizations, including the Baltimore Metropolitan Council and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. “It?s worked pretty well for us. We?ve been gauging the public?s response and awareness through surveys … and we?ve had increasingly very good responses to that.”
The guide, which rates the air during the coming day from green, or good air quality, all the way through purple, or very unhealthy, also provides tips for protecting your lungs and not contributing to the problem.
Since the Federal Environmental Protection Agency mandated air-quality testing in 1980, the results have shown steady improvement, even though the standards have become more stringent, according to Clean Air Partners an advocacy group fighting to cut pollution. In the 1980s, Maryland logged more than 21 days each summer outside the federal limits for air pollutants. In the 1990s that average dropped to about 11 days per summer, and in 2005 only three days were recorded under the original test, which measured the air over a one-hour period.
On the other hand, the entire Baltimore-Washington corridor remains an “non-attainment” area, according to federal air monitors. Also, in that time, the EPA enacted a more stringent standard that measures peak air pollution during aneight-hour period. Under that standard, Maryland failed 28 times in 2005.
Dealing with the problem is difficult because much of it is blown in with the wind.
“Ozone doesn?t come directly out of tailpipes and smokestacks,” said Russ Ulrich, Transportation Planner for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. “One-third of what?s causing our problem is brought to us by winds. One-third is from point sources (factories). The other third is transportation.”
Of Baltimore?s commuters, 85 percent drive their own car to work, Ulrich said. “Even people who have to drive alone for whatever reason, can still help make sure their vehicle is well-maintained.”
