Community Corner

Report: Connecticut's Air Quality Better, But Not Good

New Haven County got an "F" in the latest air quality report from the American Lung Association.


This story was written and reported by Associate Regional Editor Eileen McNamara.

The quality of the air we breathe here in Connecticut, including New Haven County, is not good, though it has improved somewhat in recent years, the American Lung Association says in a recent report. 

The group, which has compiled its air quality reports nationally for the last 13 years, gave failing grades this year to four of the state's eight counties: Middlesex, New Haven, New London and Fairfield.

Windham County wasn't included in the data collection for the report. Tolland and Hartford counties fared only marginally better, with D grades, while Litchfield County had the highest air quality ranking in the state, with a C. 

Last year all of those counties received an "F" for their air quality. The state's marginal improvement this year follows a national trend, the Lung Association says in a press release issued this week on its latest report. 

"The American Lung Association’s 'State of the Air 2013' report ... finds significant progress in the reduction of year-round particle pollution (soot) across the nation, but many cities that ranked among the most polluted had more unhealthy days of high ozone (smog) and short-term particle pollution than in the 2012 report. Despite that uptick, 'State of the Air 2013' shows that the air quality nationwide continues the long-term trend to much healthier air."

While Connecticut's air quality still struggles, no areas of the state made the association's "Top 10" lists of most polluted cities, as ranked by ozone levels and the levels of dangerous airborne particles, the report shows. 

Other key findings of the study include:

  • More than 131.8 million people in the United States, which equates to 42 percent of the U.S. population, live in counties that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution.    
  • Nearly 24.8 million people (8 percent) in the United States live in counties that have unhealthy levels of all three: ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution.    
  • Eighteen cities nationally had lower year-round levels of particle pollution, including 16 cities with their lowest levels recorded.


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