in March 2021 following successful pilot and peer-reviewed health studies supporting its application. The adjustment started as a pilot in May 2018 and adopted in B.C. to improve the accuracy of the reported health risk from smoke throughout the year. Therefore an adjustment to AQHI, called AQHI-Plus, is being made in B.C. contact the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy at for air quality questions or concerns within Metro Vancouver.įor health-related questions contact your Regional Health Authority.Įlevated smoke concentrations have been shown to sometimes cause the AQHI to under-report health risk. For more information on provincial Air Quality Objectives, visit BC Ambient Air Quality Objectives.įor questions related to air quality in B.C. Whenever the 24-hour PM2.5 average exceeds the Objective, that typically indicates poor air quality.Īir Quality Objectives (AQOs) are limits on the acceptable level of contaminants in the air, established by government agencies to protect human health and the environment. To gauge air quality, 24-hour PM2.5 averages are compared to the provincial Air Quality Objective of 25 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air). A daily average is also calculated based on PM2.5 concentrations over 24 hours, midnight-to-midnight, for any given day. A 24-hour running average is obtained every hour as the average PM2.5 concentration over the previous 24 hours, which is used for air quality advisories. The one-hour averages provide valuable information on rapid changes in PM2.5 levels and are essentially used to calculate the AQHI.īased on the available one-hour averages, 24-hour averages of PM2.5 concentrations are then determined in two ways. provides advice on minimizing the health risk from air pollutionĪir Quality Health Index and wildfire smoke frequently asked questions (FAQ)Įvery hour, air monitoring stations typically report hourly averages of PM2.5 concentrations.provides the predicted air-quality health risk over the next 36 hours.labels the health risk as low, moderate, high or very high.illustrates the level of health risk with a number and colour scale of 1 to 10 or higher.
#Air quality index elk grove full#
In British Columbia, the Air Quality Health Index is available to more than 80 percent of the population in 25 communities, throughout Metro Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley, as well as in Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Prince George, Vernon, and Victoria ( view the full list in the left hand navigation). This method differs from the older Air Quality Index (AQI), which determined air quality based on the highest value of only one pollutant.īritish Columbians can use the AQHI to check the quality of outdoor air before heading off to work or play. The rating for the AQHI is based on the combination of the health risks from each of the pollutants in the index. The AQHI reports on the health risks posed by a mixture of pollutants, including: The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) provides hourly air quality readings and related health messages.
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