IQAir AirVisual Reveals Most Polluted U.S. Cities During 2018, Wildfires Disproportionately To Blame

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Mar 06, 2019, 12:48 ET

LA MIRADA, Calif., March 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IQAir (www.iqair.com), the most trusted brand in air quality, has just announced the most polluted cities in the United States during 2018. Many of 2018's most polluted cities in the U.S. were in the West – and the top five cities alone made the list as a result of 2018's historic and devastating wildfires.

The top five most polluted cities in the U.S. for 2018 are:

Anderson, CA
Medford, OR
Three Rivers, CA
Yosemite Valley, CA
Portola, CA

Surprisingly, several large cities known for perennial poor air quality, such as Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, did not make the top 20 most polluted cities simply because the 2018 wildfires produced such high, long-term pollutant concentrations in regions not typically affected by poor air quality, including Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

Despite this anomaly in 2018's air pollution statistics, air pollution is increasing in the U.S. and worldwide from other sources. Air pollution will take an estimated seven million lives globally in the next year, while costing the world's economy nearly $225 billion.

These figures and other important air quality data for 2018 were compiled in the IQAir AirVisual 2018 Air Quality Report .

"The 2018 World Air Quality Report is based on the review, compilation and validation of data from tens of thousands of air quality monitoring stations," said Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America. "Everyone with a cellphone has free access to this data via the AirVisual platform. Communities and organizations from Maine to California have access to hyper-local air quality information, which is essential to planning outdoor activities and protecting the most vulnerable populations from pollution."

This report ranks cities from worst to first based upon PM2.5 rankings – this is not only because PM2.5 affects the most people globally but also because exposure to PM2.5 has serious short-and long-term health effects, including acute respiratory symptoms like difficulty breathing, airway irritation, and aggravated asthma as well as depression, obesity, diabetes, and both heart and lung disease.

Beyond the rankings, the report also outlines concrete steps that need to be taken in order to lower PM2.5 exposure worldwide. For example, reducing outdoor activities when pollution levels are high helps reduce personal exposure to PM2.5, while lowering household energy usage limits the release of PM2.5 resulting from industrial electricity generation.

About IQAir
The Swiss-based IQAir Group, is the world's leading innovator of indoor air quality solutions since 1963. IQAir AirVisual is the largest public network of air quality monitoring stations in the world. IQAir designs, develops innovative air quality products and services for homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and other critical environments. For more information, please visit http://www.iqair.com.

Contact:

Tiffany Allegretti
Public Relations Manager
IQAir North America, Inc.
Phone: 562-735-0766
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE IQAir