Community Corner

Bridgewater Firm's App Helps Assess 'State of The Air'

Free iPhone and Android application offers daily ozone quality levels from the EPA.

By Natalie Davis

As the spate of 90-degrees-and-up days continue to beat down upon the Garden State, the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic in Bridgewater is urging New Jerseyans to remember a potentially deadly fact of summer. 

To raise awareness of the fact that as temperatures rise, so does the risk of ground-level ozone, the group has released a new, free smartphone application called State of the Air.

“Air pollution threatens the health of millions in the Mid-Atlantic states alone. With these increased temperatures comes the increased threat of hazardous levels of ozone pollution that can make people sick and even send people to the hospital,” said association President and CEO Deb Brown.

“We are happy to be able to provide the State of the Air app so that those with lung disease, and without, can effectively monitor their local air quality and take action to limit their exposure to dangerous levels of air pollution.”

Despite continued improvements in air quality, unhealthy levels of air pollution still exist in communities across the country. According to the Lung Association’s State of the Air 2013 report, more than 131.8 million people in the U.S. still live in counties that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution, the two most widespread air pollutants.

The State of the Air app enables users to enter their zip code or use the geo-locator function to get current air quality conditions and the next-day air quality forecast as provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The app tracks levels of both ozone and particle pollution, and pushes out alerts if local air quality is code orange—unhealthy for sensitive groups—or worse. Depending on the severity of the day’s air pollution, the app will provide vital health recommendations—advising that outdoor activities should be rescheduled or that people who work outdoors should limit extended or heavy exertion.

The American Lung Association app is free and available for iPhone in the App Store and for Android in Google Play or at www.lung.org/stateoftheairapp.


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