The importance of following air quality restrictions

PINEHURST — Understanding air quality and the restrictions that are issued by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality can be kind of tricky.

IDEQ publishes daily air quality reports that included air quality forecasting and burn advisories. These reports show how the air quality can affect different groups of people.

During the winter time, heavy cloud coverage in our region can cause air to stagnate — creating an unhealthy environment for sensitive groups when smoke gets trapped.

Last weekend in particular, burn restrictions were put in place due to forecasted cloud coverage and residents were urged to follow these restrictions for both their safety and the safety of those around the area, as well as to avoid potential fines and penalties for not following them.

“When open burning restrictions are in place, they need to be followed or there could be a monetary fine,” IDEQ airshed coordinator Ralph Paul said. “As far as the health information, people need to be informed so they can make their own informed decisions as to what is best for them.”

With geography working against them and an inability to control the weather, these restrictions are important if individuals in the community want to avoid the stigma being in nonattainment once again.

In March 2017, the Shoshone County Board of Commissioners, as well as the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, announced that the city of Pinehurst was meeting air quality attainment standards for the first time in four years.

In recent years, IDEQ has reported that the west end of Shoshone County and particularly the city of Pinehurst, has fell under nonattainment for its air quality under the guidelines of the Nation Ambient Air Quality Standards.

The Silver Valley’s local air quality monitoring system is located in Pinehurst, a city that has struggled with air quality issues over the past few years and was even awarded nearly $2.5 million in grant monies in 2015 to help get the air quality upgraded.

This monitoring system has been especially important to the area the last few years during wildfire season. This season in particular, air quality reached “unhealthy for all people” levels.

Restrictions can cover everything from wood stove burning to any form of open burning.

Current daily air quality forecasting can be found at http://www.deq.idaho.gov/air-quality.