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Fort Smith is rated well within the "Good" category on average, meaning the air quality of the area is not hazardous to human health. Check the AIR Now government website for updated information. Guide to the Air Quality Index (AQI) The Air Quality Index is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you. The AQI focuses on health effects you may experience within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air. EPA calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate matter,) carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. For each of these pollutants, EPA has established national air quality standards to protect public health. Ground-level ozone and airborne particulates are the two pollutatns that pose the greatest threat to human health in this country. How Does the AQI Work? Think of the AQI as a yardstick that runs from 0-500. The 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 potential to affect public health, while an AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality. An AQI value of 100 generally corresponds to the national air quality standard for the pollutant, whish is the level EPA has set to protect public health. AQI values 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 get higher.
Information from this page is provided by AIR Now (http://www.airnow.gov), and is meant to provide the end user with knowledge of what to expect when visiting the Fort Smith National Historic Site.
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Last updated: April 10, 2015