Smog levels put residents on high alert
Smog levels put residents on high alert

By Josh Rabe

Published: August 15, 2007

Officials issued the second consecutive ozone alert for the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas for today, fearing dangerous smog levels.

Smog reached unhealthy levels Tuesday in the Tulsa area and high levels in most of the state's eastern half.

The state Department of Environmental Quality expects more today.

By 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, ozone levels were unhealthy for people with respiratory problems in most of central and eastern Oklahoma. Levels are higher in Tulsa, Rogers and Wagoner counties.

Today will mark Tulsa's fourth ozone alert this year and Oklahoma City's second.

According to a complicated three-year formula the EPA uses to judge air quality, the air in Oklahoma City already has violated the Clean Air Act, but only by one ozone molecule out of a billion air molecules.

Thankfully, though, the Clean Air Act wasn't written to be that precise, measuring molecules only by the million, Ashford said. Otherwise, Oklahoma City already would be on the list of cities with dirty air.

Oklahoma City's future air quality essentially rests on whether enough one-in-a-billion ozone molecules are recorded this summer to round that number up.

"We are quite close to that mark,” Ashford said.

If ozone levels reach as high as those recorded Monday three more times this year, Oklahoma City and Tulsa will both fall out of compliance with the law, Ashford said.

Monday, Oklahoma City paramedics treated at least five people for heat related illness, prompting the Emergency Medical Services Authority to issue a medical "heat alert.”

EMSA in Tulsa extended the heat alert late Monday through today for its eighth consecutive day. As of late Tuesday afternoon, Oklahoma City and Tulsa paramedics had not extended the warning to include today.

During heat alerts, residents are urged to limit exposure to the heat and take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water if working outside.

Tuesday was Oklahoma City's first medical heat alert of the year. A heat advisory remains in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday in the east.

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