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Air Quality Index: Can YOU TRUST It?
This video is about the AQI - the Air Quality Index and we’re going to talk about
what it is and how it works, And also why it’s not 100% perfect nor a 100% accurate indicator of our individual daily air quality experiences.
The AQI is the EPA - Environmental Protection Agency's index for reporting air quality.
The EPA establishes an AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. Each of these pollutants has a national air quality standard set by the EPA to protect the public’s health. They are:
ground-level ozone
particle pollution (also known as particulate matter, including PM2.5 and PM10)
carbon monoxide
sulfur dioxide
And nitrogen dioxide
The AQI values range from 0 to 500 and the higher the AQI value - the worse the air quality is.
AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, the air quality is considered unhealthy: at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as the AQI values get higher.
The AQI is divided into six categories. Each category corresponds to a different level of health concern. Each category also has a specific color. The color makes it easy for people to quickly determine whether the air quality is reaching unhealthy levels in their region.
This is from the Air Now.gov website, Green is Good and the Values are 0 to 50. Yellow is Moderate and the values are 51 to 100 and then it moves on to Orange and Red, Purple and Maroon.
The Clean Air Act of 1990, requires the EPA to review its National Ambient Air Quality Standards every five years to reflect evolving health effects information. PM2.5 stands for Particles that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter. The PM2.5 standards were lowered in 2012 and will also be lowered again towards the end of this year, 2023, as well. So we need to realize that some of what was considered good air quality 10 to 25 years ago is not considered good air quality today. The standardizations are becoming more stringent over time as research is proving more severe health issues associated with poor air quality. And we can expect that some of the air quality that is deemed to be good today will not be considered good air quality in the future, either.
Some other countries also have their own AQI ratings. Different Countries will have different Air quality standards and therefore different AQIs.
Australia’s system is also called the AQI
Canada has something called the AQHI which is the Air Quality Health Index,
China has the IAQI which is the Individual Air Quality Index,
Europe has the CAQI which is the Common Air Quality Index created in 2012 and in 2017 they added the EAQI - European Air Quality Index.
India in 2014 created the NAQI which is the National Air Quality Index
And so on…
Japan - has an AQI.
Mexico has an index called IMECA,
Singapore has the PSI - Pollutant Standards Index
South Korea has the CAI - Comprehensive Air Quality Index
The United Kingdom has the Daily Air Quality Index - DAQI
The US has the AQI - and
Vietnam has the VNAQI - Vietnam Air Quality Index created in 2019
So, again, the air quality standards in each country are different from each other.
Now, If you want to check the air quality in your area you can go to the AirNow.gov website.
- you can just type in your zip code and it gets updated hourly.
Air Quality Index: Can YOU TRUST It?
Here’s GA. - I just put in my zip code and it provides me with my local AQI.
Right now it says my air quality is good. With a 39 score. And you can see here it gives a prediction for tomorrow's air quality, as well, but it is currently not available for me.
And here is something pretty cool - if you click on this button here - that says “Monitors Near me” and you can find the actual air quality monitors closest to your residence.
So there are about 5,000 active Air quality monitors all over the United States which the EPA utilizes to come up with the AQI readings. These individual monitors cost over $20,000 each and they are constantly being checked and maintained by trained staff.
So here is the Interactive Map of Air Quality and you can come over here and click on PM2.5 and it will show the locations of the actual monitors which are testing for the PM2.5 levels near your residence. - again, the PM2.5 means Particulate Matter 2.5 microns in size and smaller. Which are considered smaller particles and the smaller particles are generally considered more hazardous to us.
The closest EPA air monitor is over 10 miles from my home. And the 2 closest monitors to me are 25 miles apart from each other. This one here and this one here. They are about 25 miles away from each other.
Air Quality Index: Can YOU TRUST It?