SO FAR Air quality in this area has continually improved despite an enormous increase in population and cars. For example, maximum levels of ozone, on of our worst smog problems, have been cut to less than half of what they were in the 1950s, even though today we have nearly three times as many people and four times as many vehicles. In the past decade, we have reduced by half the number of Stage I smog alerts, the level at which schools are advised to keep children from playing outside. And, we almost never reach Stage II levels, which used to occur 15 times a year a decade ago. The clean air effort still has a long way to go.
Maximum levels are more that twice as high as the federal standard for healthful air.
State and federal law require this area to meet clean air standards by the year 2010. This may seem like a long time for us to live with smog. But the cleanup effort is enormous. HOW YOU CAN HELP Winning the battle against smog will take more than just placing tighter controls on smokestacks and tailpipes. A lot of our pollution comes from the products and services we use every day.