Air Quality

Air Quality Overview

With every breath we take, our lungs are exposed to the world around us, filtering over 11,000 liters of air each day. Children breathe 50% more air per pound of body weight than adults. Children’s lungs are still developing also making them more vulnerable to breathing dirty air than healthy adults.

Air pollution hurts the body both by inflaming and destroying lung tissue and by weakening the lungs’ defenses against contaminants and infection.

Thanks to decades of hard work and technological advances, air quality in the Benton County region is good on most days. However, there are days when air pollution can reach the moderate- to-unhealthful ranges.