Baltimore: Code Red air quality alert 7/12

Summertime is here, and yesterday much of Baltimore celebrated our first Code Red air quality alert with the usual routine- getting stuck in traffic.

Ozone, or smog, in eastern Baltimore County reached "unhealthy" level
yesterday afternoon.

Public health people know that air quality alerts are followed by
spikes in
hospital admissions for asthma and respiratory problems.

With yesterday's red alert came the advice that children should reduce
outdoor activities, and healthy adults should avoid strenuous or
prolonged
work or exercise outdoors.

Through their emissions, car drivers again yesterday managed to render
every
park, trail and backyard unsafe.

This summer's first code red day serves as a reminder of why it is so
important to build a city the better for biking and walking (and where
we've
got viable transit system), where more people have a options for a
cleaner,
healthy way to get around town.

Mark Counselman


+++

Regional Ground Level Ozone Alert - Code Red Conditions
Area: Baltimore Metropolitan Area
Date and Time: 2005-07-12 6 PM
The following monitoring locations are reporting Code Red conditions:

Baltimore County:
Essex Station
Code: Red - Unhealthy Air Quality
Pollutant: Ozone
Reading: 160 ppb


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