North Carolina's Air Awareness Program, begun in 1996 to help limit ozone levels in some of the state's major metropolitan areas, operated for its first full season this summer. The state Division of Air Quality runs the program in cooperation with local air-pollution control agencies and business leaders in Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties. The division plans to expand the program to the Triangle in 1998. Ozone, a highly reactive form of oxygen, is the primary pollutant in smog. It can be unhealthy to breathe, particularly among children, the elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory problems.
Ozone also can damage plants and reduce crop yields.
The Air Awareness Program aims to curb smog levels through pollution forecasts, media alerts and notifications to participating businesses. Participants voluntarily agree to help reduce emissions of smog-forming pollutants on high ozone days. For instance, many participants encourage or offer incentives to their employees to car-pool, ride buses to work, or take other actions that help reduce pollution levels. Nevertheless, high ozone levels did not persist long enough in North Carolina this summer to violate federal clean air regulations. Although difficult to prove, state air quality officials say the Air Awareness Program could have been a key factor in limiting ozone levels in the Charlotte and Winston-Salem metropolitan areas.