Be Alert!
Although you may not see it, ozone can irritate lungs and make breathing difficult.

Look for this picture, or of the like, on the "S.A. Express News" front page or the AACOG home page for Health Alert information.

Enroll in a free notification service!

Air Quality Counts

San Antonio's biggest air pollution concern is ground-level ozone. The American Lung Association estimates that over 40,000 children and 70,000 adults in Bexar County alone suffer from breathing difficulties that make them especially susceptible to health damage from ozone pollution.

"When you can't breathe, nothing else matters." ^®
American Lung Association (ALA)

Forecasting Bad Air Quality

Ozone pollution occurs mostly during hot summer days with little or no wind. Forecasters can predict when the ozone level is expected to exceed standards for healthy air. If unhealthy ozone levels are predicted, an "Air Quality Health Alert" is announced to the media and public for the following day so that people can take steps to protect their health and help to reduce the pollution emissions that eventually become ozone.

The Air Quality Index is an index for forecasting and reporting daily air quality. The EPA gathers the forecasts for every city in the nation. The AQI tells you how clean or polluted your air will be, and warns of any associated health concerns you should be aware of.

The AQI is being used across the nation by television, newspaper, websites (i.e., http://www.epa.gov/airnow), and radio.

The AQI scale runs from 0 to 500. The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health danger. To make the AQI as easy to understand as possible, EPA has divided the AQI scale into six categories. Each category corresponds to a different level of health concern. Here are the six levels of health concern and what they mean:

The Air Quality Health Alert notification program is moving with the times. When AACOG receives a forecast of high pollution levels, it issues an Air Quality Health Alert to all local media entities and over 300 local organizations via fax, email, PDAs, etc. Air Quality Health Alerts are now frequently announced with the weather during the morning and evening television network news, on most local radio stations, and in the San Antonio Express-News and the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. You can also find the Air Quality Index on the weather page of the Express-News.

Want to be added to the Air Quality Health Alert notification list?

To receive Air Quality Health Alerts via email or fax, contact Brenda Williams at (210) 362-5246 or bwilliams@aacog.com and specify your preference.