Article Published in the Winston-Salem Journal on Wed., August 9, 2006

Concern about ozone dominated efforts to improve air quality in the past, when the Triad recorded as many as 35 ozone-warning days in a single year. Now that ozone levels have fallen off, air-quality officials can focus on particle pollution, or soot. (Journal graphic by Nicholas Weir)

Officials take on more pollution issues
With ozone levels dropping, environmental experts turn the public's attention to soot

By Jim Sparks
JOURNAL REPORTER

Ozone, or smog, has long been the air-quality problem that garnered the most attention in the Triad.

In recent years, smog levels have dropped so much that environmental officials feel that they can now talk about broader air-pollution issues. Specifically, officials want the public to know more about particle pollution - more commonly known as soot - which, like ozone, can trigger bad-air warnings.

"We've done a good job educating people about ozone," said Patrick Reagan, the manager of the air-monitoring division in the Forsyth County Department of Environmental Affairs. "We've now got to make people aware of other air-pollution problems as well. That's the bigger challenge.

"It's fair to say that because we're much closer to having the same number of ozone and particle-pollution days, that's an improvement. But it's problematic when people's mindset is toward ozone only."

Reagan issues the department's daily air-quality forecast.

Winston-Salem and the Triad have had serious air-pollution issues for years, especially in regard to both ozone and such fine-particle pollution as smoke, soot, airborne dirt and dust.

Both problems are caused by burning fossil fuels for electrical-power production, heating and driving.

Ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen that is unhealthy to breathe and that damages trees and crops.

Ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere and provides protection from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Ground-level ozone, or smog, is formed when vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions mix and react on hot, sunny days.

Particle pollution, or soot, results from incomplete combustion when such fuels as coal, gas, oil and wood are burned in power plants, cars, trucks and wood stoves.

Smog can damage lung tissue and aggravate such respiratory conditions as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.

Particle pollution has also been linked to lung disease, heart problems and strokes.

Forsyth County's air-pollution-warning system is based on five colors.

Orange is the first color used to alert residents to worsening air quality. Red and purple warn of more-severe problems.

A Code Orange day means that conditions are unhealthy for children, people who work outside and those with breathing ailments.

Until 2002, the Triad had been averaging 24 ozone-warning days a year.

The region had 35 warning days in 1998 and 31 in 2002.

Those numbers have been dropping in the past four years.

Since 2003, Forsyth County has averaged four Code Orange ozone days a season and two particle-pollution warning days a year.

Although federal, state and local pollution-control measures now in place are thought to have been contributing to the improvements, weather during the past three summers is also thought to have been a factor.

So far this year, the county has had six Code Orange ozone days and two Code Orange particle pollution days.

More than half of North Carolina's residents live in counties where ozone levels exceed federal health standards, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state health officials.

The Triad is the only major metro area in the state to violate federal health standards for both smog and soot.

Although Forsyth doesn't yet meet federal ozone standards, it does pass under the particle-pollution benchmarks - but not by much. Reagan said.

Stagnant air encourages both ozone and particle pollution, he said. Because particulate matter doesn't depend on heat and atmospheric chemistry, it can occur at any time of the year, including the winter months.

Although ozone problems usually occur late in the day when it's hottest, high particle levels can be present even when it's cooler at night and in the morning.

Because the way to deal with each differs, officials have been working to differentiate between the two in educational outreach efforts.

• Jim Sparks can be reached at 727-7301 or at jsparks@wsjournal.com.