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Today APCD leadership and air monitoring staff joined Mayor Craig Greenberg as he proclaimed May 6-10, 2024 as Air Quality Awareness Week in Louisville, joining partners across the country who are celebrating National Air Quality Awareness Week and encouraging residents to incorporate air quality awareness into their daily lives.
Air quality alerts and forecasts produced by APCD help Louisville residents plan and prepare for poor air quality conditions and residents can access live air quality conditions 24/7 through resources like APCD’s Louisville Air Watch.
“Just a few small steps can help residents “know their air”, protect their health, and reduce their own emissions.” said Rachael Hamilton, director of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District. “Now is an excellent time to get familiar with air quality tools like the Air Quality Index, live air monitoring resources like Louisville Air Watch, and sign up to receive air quality alerts.”
APCD leadership and air monitoring staff join Mayor Greenberg as he proclaims May 6-10 Air Quality Awareness Week
Symptoms associated with poor air quality vary by air pollutant, but often include coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue, or aggravation of pre-existing conditions like asthma, COPD, or heart disease. Groups that are sensitive to air pollution include children, older adults, and those with pre-existing lung or heart conditions.
Over the last few decades Louisville has seen a significant improvement in local air quality and reduction in harmful air emissions, but in the last few years factors associated with climate change — like increases in hot, dry weather and events like wildfire impacts seen throughout the country in 2023 — have counteracted benefits made through local emissions reductions and caused an uptick in poor air quality days. Still, due to continued emissions reductions expected in the coming years, Louisville’s long-term air quality progress is expected to continue.
This year’s theme for Air Quality Awareness Week, which is put on annually by US EPA, is Knowing Your Air, and aims to highlight resources that increase air quality awareness and encourage people to incorporate air quality knowledge into their daily living. The week also includes World Asthma Day on Tuesday, May 7th.
Air Quality Tools & Resources
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a tool created by US EPA used to provide air quality forecasts and live air quality conditions through free services like Louisville Air Watch and EPA’s AirNow.gov. The AQI uses values sorted into six color-coded categories ranging from Good (Green) to Hazardous (Maroon) to provide health-based guidance for the public. The public can view Louisville’s daily AQI trends from the past 20 years through the APCD’s AQI Trends Dashboard.
Air Quality Forecasts: An air quality forecast is generated for two of our area's most common air pollutants; ground-level ozone (O3) and fine particle pollution (PM2.5), using the categories of the Air Quality Index. The forecast is an estimate of the full day's AQI value, which is calculated using an average. Louisville's daily air quality forecast is shared through EPA's AirNow as well as APCD social media accounts @LouAPCD.
Air Quality Alerts: When air quality is forecast to impact public health ("Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" or higher on the Air Quality Index) the APCD issues an air quality alert, which encourages members of the public, particularly those groups that are sensitive to air pollution, to limit exposure, take air-friendly actions, and follow live air quality conditions. Air quality alerts are distributed through media, social media, many weather apps, and APCD’s email list.
Live Air Quality Monitoring: Live air quality conditions are collected through the APCD’s air monitoring network and shared through free resources like APCD’s Louisville Air Watch and US EPA’s AirNow.
Air Quality Action Partners
Businesses and organizations in Louisville can help improve air quality by taking part in the Air Quality Action Partners program, which encourages them to make voluntary commitments to reduce emissions and spread air quality awareness.
“Making these commitments aligns with our mission and continues our work to toward cleaner air and a healthier environment in Louisville.” said Ted Smith, associate professor and director of the UofL Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil, who have committed to be an Air Quality Action Partner in 2024.
To be recognized as “Air Quality Action Partners” businesses and organizations must sign up to receive air quality alerts, have a system to distribute those alerts to their employees, and make at least one additional commitment to improve air quality.
In 2023, 29 businesses and organizations signed up as Air Quality Action Partners, providing air quality alerts to over 2,700 local employees and reducing local emissions. 2024 partners are encouraged to sign up before May 10 through this form.
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