Air Quality

Air quality affects how you live and breathe.

We spend about 90% of our time indoors. Indoor Air Quality affects everyone, especially the most vulnerable – children, the elderly, and people with health conditions like asthma and heart disease.

Like the weather, outdoor air quality can change from day to day or even hour to hour. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local officials use the AQI to provide simple information about your local air quality, how unhealthy air may affect you, and how you can protect your health. 

Learn more about Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality below. 

Indoor Air Quality Check the Air Quality Index Radon Info

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.

Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

Some health effects may show up shortly after a single exposure or repeated exposures to a pollutant. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person’s exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified.

Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.

There are many sources of indoor air pollution. These can include:

  • Fuel-burning combustion appliances
  • Tobacco products
  • Building materials and furnishings as diverse as:
  • Deteriorated asbestos-containing insulation
  • Newly installed flooring, upholstery or carpet
  • Cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products
  • Products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies
  • Central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices
  • Excess moisture
  • Outdoor sources such as:
  • Radon
  • Pesticides
  • Outdoor air pollution.

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/introduction-indoor-air-quality

Air Quality Index scale legend showing color-coded air quality categories and numeric ranges. Green indicates Good air quality from 0 to 50. Yellow indicates Moderate air quality from 51 to 100. Orange indicates Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups from 101 to 150. Red indicates Unhealthy from 151 to 200. Purple indicates Very Unhealthy from 201 to 300. Maroon indicates Hazardous from 301 to 500. The legend notes that values above 500 are beyond the AQI scale.

Click here to check the Current Air Quality in Defiance, OH

What is the AQI? 
The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or unhealthy your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern. The AQI focuses on health effects you may experience within a few hours or days after breathing unhealthy air. The AQI is calculated for four major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide. For each of these pollutants, EPA has established national air quality standards to protect public health. EPA is currently reviewing the national air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide. If the standard is revised, the AQI will be revised as well.

How does the AQI work?
Air quality directly affects our quality of life. Think of the AQI as a yardstick that runs from 0 to 500. T he higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern. For example, an AQI value of 50 represents good air quality with little or no potential to affect public health, while an AQI value over 300 represents air quality so hazardous that everyone may experience serious effects. An AQI value of 100 generally corresponds to the national air quality standard for the pollutant, which is the level EPA has set to protect public health. AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy—at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI values increase.

Click here to learn more about Air Quality Index

For more information on Radon or Registered Contractors:

Ohio Department of Health Radon Page 

Radon Data     

Map of Registered Contractors