If you’ve wondered about the inversions that sink into Utah’s valleys or worried when wildfire smoke turns the skies hazy, you already know that air quality matters.
Now, residents can learn more about the science behind the air changes they see thanks to a new air quality monitoring station in Heber.
The Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has more than two dozen monitors set up across the state. Heber’s is the first one installed in the Wasatch Back. Eventually, the DAQ hopes to have another monitor in neighboring Summit County.
The Heber monitor is up and running just northeast of downtown, ready to help scientists track air pollution levels.
The DAQ’s air monitoring section manager, Bo Call, said Summit and Wasatch counties have met the population threshold for the state to start monitoring air quality. Scientists will collect at least three years of data from the Heber site to establish a baseline.
“As we get more data, then the policymakers can use that data to adjust building codes and take actions to prevent pollution growth, if you have it,” he said.
Call said the team will be comparing data to federal standards for pollution levels. It will also measure things like temperature, humidity and wind to put those numbers in context.
“We monitor for criteria pollutants, and this one in particular is going to be ozone and PM 2.5. We also monitor for NOx,” he said.
PM 2.5 is shorthand for particulate matter that’s 2.5 microns or smaller – far too tiny for the human eye to see without a microscope. Particle pollution is fueled by smoke, soot and dust. Construction sites, fires, farming and dusty roads can all create this kind of pollution.
When people are exposed to high levels of particulate matter, it can cause asthma attacks, lung damage and heart trouble.
“2.5 is important because that’s the part that actually gets down deep into your lungs and so it can cause more health effects,” Call said.
In Utah, inversions can cause particle pollution levels to spike, especially in valleys.
Exhaust from cars and trucks is a major source of the other pollutants the monitor detects, ozone and nitrogen oxides, nicknamed NOx. Those pollutants can cause breathing problems and make the air hazy.
Although scientists will be collecting years of data in Heber, Call said locals can start learning more about air quality now. He recommends downloading the UtahAir app to check current pollution levels.
“What we generally tell people is to figure out where it impacts you,” he said. “And you can track it and when it gets to be high enough to where it starts to impact you, you can decide maybe you don’t want to be practicing for the marathon or riding a bike or going to a soccer game at 4 in the afternoon.”
Residents can also sign up for daily air quality forecast emails.
You can also check out the latest data for the Wasatch Back on the DAQ website or through the Wasatch County Health Department.
