Arkansans usually know how to handle those sweltering summer days that
come all too frequently to The Natural State. When the weather forecast
hits the 90s, Arkansans look to stake out a shady spot for a weekend
picnic or slather on sunscreen for a day at the lake.

As summer approaches, the state's residents would also be wise to check
out another forecast: The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's
prediction on unhealthy levels of ozone in the air.

ADEQ, the state's environmental regulatory agency, monitors weather
conditions from May to September and alerts residents of four central
Arkansas counties to "ozone action days," those days where
concentrations of ozone at ground level may be high enough to cause
health problems.

Ozone is the main ingredient in smog. It is an irritant that most often
affects sensitive groups such as senior citizens, children and people
with respiratory ailments like asthma or emphysema. 

On particularly intense ozone action days, everyone is at risk for
respiratory trouble.

"Ozone irritates membranes in the lungs and causes shortness of breath,"
said ADEQ Director Teresa Marks. "It's most often described as feeling
like sunburn inside your lungs."

High concentrations of ozone at ground level can cause shortness of
breath, coughing and wheezing, as well as headaches, nausea and eye
irritation.

ADEQ implemented the ozone action days program more than a decade ago,
in conjunction with the Arkansas Department of Health, the state Highway
and Transportation Department and Metroplan, a central Arkansas planning
agency.

Ozone action day alerts are issued when ADEQ forecasters predict that
ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to exceed national
air-quality standards.

The ozone alerts cover Pulaski, Faulkner, Lonoke and Saline counties.

ADEQ works with the Memphis-Shelby County Health Department to issue
ozone alerts in Crittenden County.

High ground-level ozone concentrations occur seasonally. The amount of
ozone in the air increases when temperatures are high, the air is
stagnant and there are clear skies. Ozone concentrations rise the longer
those weather conditions continue.

Motor vehicle emissions contribute about 60 percent of ozone
concentrations. In central Arkansas, high ozone levels can be linked to
the number of vehicles that come through the region each day. Crittenden
County's ozone levels are tied to the county's proximity to Memphis.

Emissions from industrial sources and power plants affect ozone
concentrations, as do a variety of everyday activities from pumping gas
to painting.

In the Little Rock metropolitan area alone, more pollutants are emitted
by gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment than by a typical large
industrial plant.

Arkansans can take a few common-sense steps to reduce ozone pollution.
Those include:

*                    *  Reducing automobile trips by carpooling, walking
or riding the bus to work and by taking care of errands in one trip.

*                    *  Implementing work flextime policies so that
vehicle emissions are spread out over the day instead of during morning
and evening rush hours.

*                    *  Refueling vehicles late in the afternoon rather
than in the morning.

*                    *  Delaying lawn and gardening work until a day
when ozone alerts are unlikely, thus reducing emissions and a person's
possible exposure to unhealthy air.

ADEQ has implemented programs to help people cut ozone emissions. Most
recently, the agency received federal money to distribute to government
agencies and nonprofit groups to help them reduce emissions from
diesel-powered vehicles. More federal funding for the "Go RED!"
diesel-emissions reduction program is expected this summer.

Another successful program, a gas can exchange, allowed residents to
trade in old, portable gas cans for new ones that minimize spills and
permeation.

The agency's employees also routinely visit schools in the state to tell
students how to reduce ozone emissions.

ADEQ has ozone monitoring stations located throughout the state. Three
monitors are in Pulaski County, with others in Crittenden, Newton and
Polk counties.

The monitors in Crittenden and Pulaski County have detected levels that
exceed the federal air quality standard for ozone. The Environmental
Protection Agency is expected to declare those counties as out of
compliance with the ozone standard by March 2010.

But even rural areas can experience high ozone levels. The rural sites
have detected high ozone concentrations that are most likely caused by
long-range transport of emissions from urban areas as far away as
Houston and Atlanta.

ADEQ's daily ozone forecasts are available on the agency's Web site,
www.adeq.state.ar.us <http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/> .

Additional information can be found at the Ozone Action Days site,

www.ozoneactiondays.org <http://www.ozoneactiondays.org/>

To sign up for ozone alerts by e-mail, visit www.airnow.gov
<http://www.airnow.gov/> .