In light of the results of seven-county air monitoring study, local leaders are promoting education and awareness as first steps toward dealing with the region’s high ozone levels.
More than 100 people attended a panel discussion Jan. 19 at Catawba College’s Center for the Environment, where results of the Piedmont Carolina summer air monitoring study were shared.Data were collected over eight weeks, May to July, from sample collectors placed in the backyards of volunteers’ homes in Cabarrus, Davidson, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenburg and Rowan counties and York (S.C.) County.
The devices measured ozone and nitrogen oxide levels.The center, through its Campaign for Clean Air, and Cindy DeForest Hauser, associate professor of chemistry at Davidson College, conducted the study.
The American Lung Association lists Rowan and Mecklenburg counties as having some of the worst ground-level ozone in the nation.
Read more in the Charlotte Observer.