Partnership promotes clean air
PITTSBURGH — Southwest Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership Inc. is urging people to take time to learn about and take actions to help make a difference in the air quality, especially on “air quality action days.”
“Becoming aware of our air-quality issues is the first step in doing your share for clean air. Individuals can take actions, like participating in our clean mower exchange, to help improve our region’s air quality,” said Jayme Graham, chairwoman of the Southwest Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership.
This month, the partnership is offering clean mower exchange rebates to Southwest Pennsylvania residents that exchange a gasoline-powered lawn mower and/or trimmer for a rebate toward the purchase of an electric or battery-powered mower and/or trimmer at 17 participating True Value stores in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene and Westmoreland counties.
Residents will receive a $100 rebate toward the purchase of new lawn mower and $25 toward the purchase of a new trimmer.
The partnership also provides residents with information about the region’s air quality year-round and calls for air quality action days when ground-level ozone and/or particle pollution reach unhealthy limits.
Graham encourages residents to go to the partnership’s website, www.spaqp,org, to get the area’s air-quality forecast, provided by a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) meteorologist. Residents can sign up for Enviroflash, a free service that allows anyone to receive free air-quality forecasts for the following day by email or text message.
“Having access to the air quality forecast will prepare you to better make informed decisions about your health and the importance of improving our air quality,” said Graham. “The forecast also lets you know when the next air quality action day will be.”
Transportation choices play a significant role in air quality.
The partnership encourages residents to do their share for clean air and make clean-air choices by choosing transportation alternatives like car or van pooling, taking the bus, biking or walking.
More information on transportation choices is available online at www.commuteinfo.org.
On air quality action days, when the ground-level ozone is high, the partnership suggests residents postpone mowing the lawn, fuel the car’s gas tank after 6 p.m. and reduce the idling of the car’s engine. These actions help to reduce the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that bake in the sunlight to form ground-level ozone.
Residents can get more information about the clean mower exchange program, as well as additional air-quality tips, by visiting the partnership website at www.spaqp.org.