The EPA’s Air Quality Index.
Fresh, clean air is something many of us in Iowa take for granted and it’s the focus starting today as this is Air Quality Awareness Week.
Brian Hutchins, spokesman for the Air Quality Bureau of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, explains the goals of the week.
“We want to highlight our air quality and inform the public that air quality can have an impact on an individual’s health,” Hutchins says. “We also want to provide the resources to the public, where they can go and actually check on the air quality on any given day.”
While there are a few parts of Iowa that need improvement, Hutchins says the state does have good air quality on most days.
“We do have some episodes where we have poor air quality days in certain areas,” he says. “That can be influenced by outside factors as well.” A recent example of those outside factors is when smoke from large wildfires in Kansas reached into Iowa last month. Hutchins recommends people visit the website, www.iowacleanair.gov, for more information and a real-time look at the state’s air quality.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)