The Air Quality Index, launched by ACT Health in late 2014, provides access to real-time air quality data and allows residents to better understand how air quality may affect them.
What is the Air Quality Index?
The index indicates how clean the air is. It shows the level of monitored pollutants as a percentage of National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (NEPM) standards. The lower the score, the better the quality of the air. For example, an index score of 50 indicates that levels of that pollutant are 50% of what the NEPM standard allows.
The index shows the levels of pollutants at each monitoring station and includes a colour-coded description of what the levels mean in terms of air quality (Figure 4.2). The Air Quality Index for each site is taken to be the highest Air Quality Index of any individual pollutant.
How can the community use it?
The website describes the potential health risks associated with the index levels and recommends actions that should be taken at the different levels.
As the index score increases, a larger percentage of the population is likely to experience increasingly severe adverse health effects.
The website thus allows residents to have a clearer understanding of the impacts that air quality and levels of different pollutants may have on their wellbeing. This information may be particularly important for sensitive individuals.
Figure 4.2 Pollutant levels and corresponding air quality
Sources:
a http://health.act.gov.au/public-information/public-health/act-air-quality-monitoring/air-quality-index-aqi
b http://health.act.gov.au/health-services/population-health/health-protection-service/act-air-quality-monitoring/air-quality-index-aqi
c http://health.act.gov.au/public-information/public-health/act-air-quality-monitoring/air-quality-index-aqi
d http://health.act.gov.au/public-information/public-health/act-air-quality-monitoring/air-quality-index-aqi