Osrpey Media/Saint Catharines Standard: "Smog alert is issued; blame it on U.S., sun."

Smog alert is issued; blame it on U.S., sun

PETER DOWNS
Local News - Wednesday, May 09, 2007 @ 01:00

Niagara is under its first smog advisory of the year. Ontario's Ministry of the Environment issued the advisory Tuesday afternoon, forecasting a strong likelihood of poor air quality within the next 24 hours due to ground-level ozone or particulate matter.

The ministry blamed the bad air on a combination of pollution blowing into the province from the U.S. and strong sunshine, which creates a photo-chemical reaction to create the smog.

"Traditionally when we get air movement from the U.
S. ... it's warmer air, but it's also a dirty air shed because it blows over 200 coal fire generating stations," said ministry spokesman John Steele. Smog season typically runs from the beginning of May to the end of September.

Last year, the ministry issued five smog advisories for the region, covering 11 days.

People with respiratory problems and heart disease can be badly affected on smog days.

Even healthy individuals can experience eye irritation from smog, as well as shortness of breath and coughing during heavy exercise outdoors.

Niagara associate medical officer of health Dr. Doug Sider called into question the effectiveness of the province's system of advising people about bad air days.

People can easily suffer adversely from poor air quality at levels considered too low to trigger a smog advisory, he noted.

"If people are waiting for formal alerts ... it's probably not the best indication," he said.

Sider said it would be more effective for media outlets to give more timely, up-to-date measures of air quality throughout the day - much as they do with weather reports.

"We really need to revamp the whole air quality monitoring and reporting (system)," he said.