Air Quality Information

Comal County Air Quality Information

High concentrations of ground-level ozone can cause shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, headaches, nausea, and eye and throat irritation. People who suffer from lung diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and colds have even more trouble breathing when the air is polluted. These effects can be worse in children, the elderly and exercising adults.

Good AQI (Air Quality Index) should be between 0-50. Air quality is considered satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no risk.

Moderate AQI for your community is between 51-100. Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there my be moderate health concerns for a very small number of individuals.

Unhealthy for sensitive groups AQI for your community is between 101-150. Certain groups of people are adversely sensitive to the harmful affects of certain air pollutants.For example, children and adults who are active outdoors and people with respiratory disease are at greater risk from exposure to ozone pollution.

Forecast

Unhealthy

AQI values are between 151 and 200. Everyone may begin to experience health effects. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.

Very Unhealthy

AQI values are between 201 and 300. This triggers a broad-scale alert, meaning everyone may experience more serious health effects.

Hazardous

AQI values are over 300. This triggers health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.

Current Air Quality

View AirNow Webpage for New Braunfels

Air Pollution and Exercise

While aerobic activity is one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle, air pollution and exercise can be an unhealthy combination. This is especially true if you have asthma, diabetes, heart or lung conditions, or lower respiratory disease.

Air Quality Index

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided a scale called the Air Quality Index (AQI) for rating air quality. This scale is based on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and is described in the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 58, Appendix G. This report is based on the AQI standards. More information on the AQI can be found on the EPA's AirNow web site.