There's less air pollution in NYC, but improvements needed: Report

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Air pollution in New York City is at its lowest level in more than a decade, but the city still needs to do more to make the air safer, according to a new report.

Local and federal legislation has led to improved air quality for the New York region, the American Lung Association said in its annual "State of the Air Report" released Wednesday. New York's air pollution is at its lowest since the report was first conducted 13 years ago, its author told reporters Tuesday.

“We’re seeing pollution being controlled from power plants, from diesel trucks, from cars and other on-road traffic,” said Michael Seilback of the American Lung Association. “While we may have a lot of traffic going through the five boroughs, those sources are cleaner.”
The report showed that New York still has problems — Staten Island received a failing grade for ozone levels, and the Bronx was dubbed “the dirtiest county in the metro region” for high particle pollution.

Breathing in ozone and air pollution can cause wheezing, coughing, chest pain, increased asthmatic episodes, and even lead to death, said Luis Rodriguez, chief of the pediatrics department of Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center.

The report broke down each borough’s ozone and air particle pollution. Aside from Staten Island, the rest of the city got C’s and D’s.

“On one side, our air is improving,” Seilback said. “However, when your child comes home with a D on the report card, it’s not going up on the fridge.”

He highlighted the fact that more New Yorkers are using mass transit as one reason air quality improved. He also noted that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative has set a goal to make the city “greener” by 2030.

Tracey Tirado-Vasquez of the Bronx, who said her 11-year-old son, Claude, died from his asthma in 2010, wants the city to do more.

“They should have, in schools, more awareness about asthma,” said Tirado-Vasquez, 42, who also has asthma, “so one more family doesn’t have to go through what I have to go through, missing mother’s days and graduations that should have come that will never come.”

Air quality grades
Manhattan
Ozone levels: D
Particle pollution: C

Queens
Ozone levels: D
Particle pollution: C

Brooklyn
Ozone levels: * Unable to evaluate
Particle pollution: C

Bronx
Ozone levels: D
Particle pollution: D

Staten Island
Ozone levels: F
Particle pollution: B

(Source: The American Lung Association)
 

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