Some days it can be easy to tell when there may be some haze in the environment making it a little hard to breath. This is mother nature’s way of saying what kind of weather to expect or how much moisture is in the air. What about when there are pollutants in the air that make for poor air quality Hershey and being outside is not necessarily safe? There are reporting agencies that help determine what the air is like outside and on certain days you may feel well advised to stay in and away from any more exposure than is safe.
The Environmental Protection Agency, otherwise known as the EPA has a a way to measure for AQI, or Air Quality Index in any number of locations. All you have to do is get onto the government website and plug in your specific area to find out what the air is like and at what times of day it may be at its worst. If you suffer from a respiratory problem these are the times of day when you are well advised to check the AQI website and stay away from putting yourself in danger.
The AQI has 5 different types of pollutants that it tests for and it has 6 different categories that measures the quality. The 5 major pollutants that are regulated by the Clean Air Act are ground level ozone, particle pollution (which is also known as particulate matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and lastly nitrogen dioxide. Watching these levels and reporting the findings can help protect the public from these major threats to human health.
There are 6 levels that are used as indexes for how bad or good the pollutants are in a given area. On a scale of 0 to 500, with 500 being the worst, they are divided numerically into these 6 areas. There are colors associated with each level starting with green, going to yellow, orange, red, purple and then maroon, with each level getting respectively worse. After you hear an air quality report for anything after the red color where it is dangerous to be exposed, do not go out in the maroon hazardous conditions.
