Be prepared for Ozone Alert Days

As summer months heat up, Ozone Alert Days could be on the rise. DHEC has a program to monitor and alert the public of an unhealthy concentration of ozone pollution by checking your Daily Ozone Forecast. To prepare for Ozone Alert Days, Enviroflash offers many ways to communicate its alerts – via email of text message, Twitter, Facebook and more.

Also, check out the following tips to help reduce ozone pollution:

• Cut back on or reschedule strenuous outside activities. Stay indoors in a well-ventilated or air-conditioned building. If you must be active outdoors, try to schedule activity before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m.

• Drive less. Combine errands and put off less-necessary trips for a cooler day, carpool, or use public transit. Better yet, take a leisurely walk or bike ride, preferably early in the morning or later in the evening.

• Avoid fueling. Simply filling your vehicle with gasoline can lead to pollution as fumes escape and tiny drips and spills occur, and gas vapors react with heat and sunlight to form ozone. If you must fill your tank, do so after dusk. And be sure to avoid “topping off” your tank.

• Postpone mowing. Lawn and garden equipment is responsible for significant ozone-forming emissions. Postpone yard work that involves power equipment until the Ozone Alert is over.