PHOENIX — The air quality in Phoenix was rated the fourth worst in the country, according to an annual American Lung Association report.
The city also has the highest number of ozone days, according to Bradley Busby with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). He joined Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday to discuss some of the reasons why Phoenix struggles with air quality.
“One is wildfires, wildfire smoke and the gases that wildfires put off definitely influence our ozone here. And we’ve seen a lot of wildfires in the West, even up in Canada that have blanketed much of the U.S., including Arizona at times. And that can influence are ozone negatively for sure,” Busby said.
Why does Phoenix have air quality issues?
For about a decade, Maricopa County has failed to meet ozone pollution standards. The county was designated and placed in the serious nonattainment category for ground-level concentrations, according to ADEQ.
“Ozone, similar to other pollutants like dust, impacts your lungs, may cause burning eyes, and it’s going to make just in general your life a little bit more difficult,” Busby said. “It is something we don’t want to be breathing in high qualities.”
When the ozone layer is at ground-level where it can be breathed in, it can become a public health concern, according to ADEQ. However, the Trump administration modified the ozone guidelines by changing air quality standards.
Wildfires, traffic, paint solvents, power plants and sunlight all contribute to poor air quality, Busby said. Although there has been a decrease in local human-caused emissions, ozone concentration levels continue to rise, he added.
How is Phoenix addressing issues with air quality?
This summer, Maricopa County is teaming up with the Environmental Protection Agency and local businesses to study what’s behind the increasing ozone concentration levels in Phoenix.
In the past 30 years, pollutants across the state have decreased over time due to improvements in vehicles emission testing, Busby said. But, the state’s air quality levels have plateaued and can’t seem to reach national ambient air quality standards, which is why the study is important, he said.
“That’s why we got to continue to learn more and see what else might be out there that we can better control. Or really are the natural sources of ozone such that we’re not going to be able to get much more improvement because of where we live, because of the sunlight we get, because of the hot summers we get, with just clear days and the amount of people that live here,” Busby said.
“It just may be really challenging for us to improve ozone all that much more without some new research or new understanding.”
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