Air Quality in Salt Lake City (Cleveland: guidelines, population, places)

[hilgi]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

That's b/c you don't have asthma, I assume. Asthmatics wheeze for more than just the worst inversions.

My 8 year old is asthmatic and back in CA we had to use his nebulizer (the thing they use in hospitals) for months on end. Here it has only been when he got a cold.

We do worry about the elevation, which does cause problems sometimes with asthmatics, so far so good.

I am doing my part to cut down the auto pollution, I turned in my leased car in CA, I telecommute from home, I walk the kids to school most days and I will look into car share, Trax and carpools if I do need to leave the area.

I am not trying to minimize the pollution problem, I am just trying to get people to put it in perspective and look for solutions more than complaints. [SIZE=3][/SIZE]
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[skibarbie]

When we moved to PC in the early 90's and then again upon our move down here last year was to install a whole house humidifier. Mr had bad allergies before he moved here and the dry air really aggravated them. After the humidifier install, thing improved alot. Try a humidifier in each bedroom if you are not ready to do the whole house thing. When you are ready for the whole house system, DM me and I will tell you about the great company we worked with!

[Greenjellybean]

I have lived in SLC for 11 years now, and I do sometimes have problems breathing as an asthmatic. I am not going to complain here, like I do to my poor husband, but the air sickens me each winter. The fine particle pollution sits right over the city for weeks at a time and I have a hard time breathing then. The elevation can also be a hindrance, even after living here for 11 years. I find the air rather gross and depressing during the winter and it is the single most reason that I will hopefully be leaving after graduation with my masters degree. No bad feelings, it is just not for me. Good luck to each of you on the path of life.

[yellowsnow]

The inversions are bad, there's no doubt.

However, you can go back and see photos of the valley taken about 100 years ago that are just as bad. The inversions have been happening as long as there has been any considerable population in the valley.

No one mentioned the snow pellets. I was always amazed by those tiny white balls falling from the sky.

[cest.la.vie]

Cinnabon, I live in downtown SLC. And for those of you saying "it's not that bad"--truly, this isn't some kind of alarmist phenomenon. You don't need to directly experience it to know it's bad. Salt Lake County and many of the surrounding areas are non-attainment zones, which means they don't follow federally mandated guidelines for air quality (which have already been loosened beyond belief over the past decade). Salt Lake City also has some of the worst air quality in the country as far as particulates are concerned--those nasty little buggers that embed themselves in your lungs, crossing the blood barrier into other organs and potentially causing cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's-like symptoms, among others.

Even if you don't "feel" bad, or haven't shared the experiences of some of the people suffering from living here, you're still breathing this stuff. And worse still--because SLC is a non-attainment area, when they say it's a "green air quality day", it's based entirely on manipulated local standards.

[markg91359]

Cinnabon, I live in downtown SLC. And for those of you saying "it's not that bad"--truly, this isn't some kind of alarmist phenomenon. You don't need to directly experience it to know it's bad. Salt Lake County and many of the surrounding areas are non-attainment zones, which means they don't follow federally mandated guidelines for air quality (which have already been loosened beyond belief over the past decade). Salt Lake City also has some of the worst air quality in the country as far as particulates are concerned--those nasty little buggers that embed themselves in your lungs, crossing the blood barrier into other organs and potentially causing cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's-like symptoms, among others.

Even if you don't "feel" bad, or haven't shared the experiences of some of the people suffering from living here, you're still breathing this stuff. And worse still--because SLC is a non-attainment area, when they say it's a "green air quality day", it's based entirely on manipulated local standards.

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The most distressing thing about the air quality situation here in the winter actually is not the pollution we experience which is significant. The most distressing thing is that there is no plan to do anything about it that I am aware of. We repeat the mantra over and over again that "Utah is a conservative state". I don't see the politicians here really doing anything that might interfere with business or anyone's "right" to drive.

I cringe when I realized that except for Nevada and possibly one or two other states, we have the fastest growing population in the USA. Anyone who thinks realizes this problem is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

I think if people in this state really cared, we could make a difference. The whole state legislature could be booted out of office and we could elect people that want to make changes. I don't plan on it happening anytime soon, though.

I'd like to be positive about this problem. Solutions do exist. We can do more to encourage use of mass transit. We could have days when license plates of a certain number are not permitted to drive. Much more could be done to encourage practices like carpooling and telecommuting to work. Honestly, I don't think anything serious is going to get done about this problem until the change is literally forced on us.

[Strawberry Love]

Since I'm interested in moving to Utah and will hopefully be checking it out soon, I don't know the locations of things.

Is this only Salt Lake City or are the suburban towns surrounding SLC affected also?

[11thHour]

The entire region gets it in the winter. It can extend west past the Nevada border, north well past the Idaho border, south halfway to the Arizona border. It doesn't usually make it far east though, the mountains are good are blocking it in.

[dcisive]

This whole discussion is a bit like "putting lipstick on a pig". It's still a pig! Nearly every area with a grouping of mountains such as the Wasatch Front (Denver, Phoenix, LA, Boise and others) all suffer from inversions under the right temperature and wind conditions. It's just a fact of life, and one you accept by living in such an area. Happily it's generally a temporary condition which rarely lasts more than a few days to a few weeks per year at any given time. It's not like we are permanently inundated by the muck (certainly not as often as the greater Los Angeles area). All things considered, yes it can be annoying to even a point where it compromises ones health. But you have to evaluate that on your own. It is bad but to what degree? To me it's more of an inconvenience but then I don't have asthma (yet). If I did I have to admit I'd likely move to some place where the air is fed a clean supply. You just have to decide for yourself what matters...........

[Poqui]

Good riddance! After reading this thread it's surprise I am not dead. I moved here from Vancouver, WA in 2000 and I have pretty severe asthma. I have seen the inversion first hand now for 8 straight winters and I have never, ever suffered an asthma attack because of it. I heard on the news a couple of years back that the EPA had changed how air quality is measured, as a result of that the Wasatch front was receiving lower grades than before. So if you compare cities make sure you compare similar years.

I don't like the inversion but to me it's more psychological than physiological. And it's only a few weeks of the year, usually in January or February. That's when we visit Park City and spend the weekends in St. George. :-)