Annual Wintertime High Pollution Advisory Program Debuts with New Web
Address; First Color-Coded Advisory to be Issued on Oct. 31
October 30, 2007—Denver—The Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control
Division is debuting a new address on the
Internet,
http://coloradoairquality.info, to coincide with
the start of
the annual High Pollution Advisory Program. Division
meteorologists will issue the first color-coded air
pollution
advisory of the 2007-2008 season at 4 p.m. on Wednesday,
Oct. 31. The
first red or blue advisory will take effect at midnight.
Subsequent
advisories will be issued daily at 4 p.m. and remain in
effect for 24
hours. Internet users interested in the current advisory
status and other,
real-time air quality data simply need to surf to
coloradoairquality.info now to access information
provided by
the division’s comprehensive air monitoring network. “We
wanted to create an address that was user-friendly and easy
to
remember, and one that conveyed what residents would find
when they got
there,” said Paul Tourangeau, director of the Air Pollution
Control
Division. “We think
coloradoairquality.info really says it
all. Our
goal is for residents to quickly learn the address and that
our partners
in local governments, media and other civic organizations
come to rely
on
coloradoairquality.info as the best, most efficient
source for air
quality information.” The Air Pollution Control Division
will continue to maintain two
telephone hotlines, (303) 758-4848 and (303) 782-0211, that
provide the
public with recorded air quality information. The hotlines
are updated
with newly recorded messages daily. Most major Denver
metropolitan area media outlets historically have
included each day’s advisory in some form in weather
segments, on
weather pages, in news briefs, as part of traffic reports,
or in daily
calendars and/or digests. Internet users not only will
find the current advisory information at
coloradoairquality.info, but also current air
pollution
conditions recorded at any of several monitors located
throughout the
metropolitan area. Data are updated automatically each hour,
365 days a
year. Internet users also can select options that will
display bar and line
graphs for specific air pollutants to investigate daily and
day-to-day
trends at a given site, and reports that compare air
pollution levels
site-to-site. Information is archived for reference. Each
day through March 31, the division will issue either a red
or blue
air pollution advisory. Red advisories, which indicate that
air quality
conditions could lead to air pollution levels above federal
and/or state
standards, trigger mandatory residential burning
restrictions and
voluntary driving reductions. Burning is limited to approved
fireplaces,
wood stoves, pellet stoves and masonry heaters in the
seven-county
Denver metropolitan area. Approved fireplaces, wood
stoves, pellet stoves and masonry heaters are
those that meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Phase
II (Colorado
Phase III) certification. A current list of approved devices
is
available upon request from the Colorado Department of
Public Health and
Environment or can be viewed on-line at
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/woodstoves.html.
Blue advisories require no public action. However, residents
are urged
to consider using alternate modes of transportation whenever
possible. The High Pollution Advisory Program area is
defined as the seven
Denver-metropolitan area counties (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder,
Broomfield,
Denver, Douglas and Jefferson). Residences above 7,000 feet in
elevation in parts of Boulder, Douglas and Jefferson
counties are exempt
from the residential burning restrictions under red
advisories, as are
residences east of Kiowa Creek in extreme eastern parts of
Adams and
Arapahoe counties. Each red or blue advisory includes the
current maximum air pollution
concentration and visibility readings in the metropolitan
area, as well
as the highest readings for the day. Each advisory specifies
which
pollutant is responsible for the day's current high and
maximum high
readings, where those readings were recorded, and provides a
pollution
outlook for the advisory period. The most troublesome
wintertime pollutants are carbon monoxide and
particulate matter. Carbon monoxide is produced during the
incomplete
combustion of organic fuels. Its primary source in the
Denver-metropolitan area is automobiles. Carbon monoxide
affects the central nervous system by depriving the
body of oxygen. It can reduce a healthy person’s ability to
perform
tasks like jogging or running. Sensitive persons like those
with
cardiovascular disease, angina patients and pregnant women
can be
affected more negatively. Particulate matter refers to
tiny airborne particles, regardless of
chemical composition, that are small enough to be inhaled.
They can
become imbedded in a person’s respiratory tract and lungs
and cause
respiratory damage. The smaller the particle, the more
deeply it can
penetrate. Particulate matter sources include automobiles
and various industrial
processes, and smoke from residential wood fires. A wide
variety of Web sites commonly accessed by Internet users
have linked their pages to the division’s on-line advisory
information. Instructions on how to link a Web site to the
on-line advisory information are available at
coloradoairquality.info.
Click on
the link “Add this image to your site” and follow the
directions. Last winter, 104 blue and 45 red advisories
were issued during the
five-month season, with three advisory periods split (red
until
midnight, blue thereafter). Advisory periods only are split
in the event
of extreme meteorological conditions, like an approaching
winter storm.
The previous winter, 95 blue and 57 red advisories were
issued. About
two-thirds of advisories during a typical season are blue,
the other
third red. --30-- |
