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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 29, 1998
98-024
CONTACT: Larry Altose, (425) 649-7192, Outreach specialist
Joseph Williams, (360) 407-6880, Air quality program manager
OLYMPIA -- Washington residents should be breathing easier, considering the state just concluded its best year ever for meeting health-based national standards for outdoor air.
"Last year we had the cleanest air since we began monitoring air pollution," said Joseph Williams, air-quality manager for the Department of Ecology. "The challenge is to keep this good air quality, given our growing population, traffic and economy."
Williams said Ecology found just three high readings in 1997, compared to 1974 when Washington had poor air quality 1,500 times. The high pollution readings in 1997 occurred in Kennewick, with one bad air day, and Wallula (Walla Walla County), which had two days of poor air quality. All three of the readings involved tiny airborne particles known as particulate matter.
Ecology and local air-quality agencies operate nearly 100 monitoring stations that measure carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and lead. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets standards based on health criteria for these six pollutants.
The largest source of air pollution is motor vehicles. "Vehicle use has been growing faster than the population in Washington," Williams noted. "If we want to keep our air safe and breathable, we will have to continue to control emissions from cars, trucks, and other pollution sources such as wood stoves, industry, outdoor burning and others."
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
