Mayor Urges Residents to Be Air Aware
Mayor Brandon Whipple and the Department of Public Works and Utilities remind the public that ozone season officially begins Sunday, March 1 and lasts through Saturday, October 31.
Ground level ozone is a harmful air pollutant which can have negative health and economic consequences. Wichita is a proud member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Ozone Advance program, which encourages voluntary actions that individuals, businesses and local governments can take to prevent bad air quality.
Mayor Whipple urges the community to help our city keep ozone levels low by reducing driving and idling time, lowering home energy usage, fueling automobiles before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. and utilizing public transit.
Residents can stay engaged during ozone season in a variety of ways, including visiting beairawareks.org. To learn more about ozone and what the City is doing to combat it, sign up for ozone alerts - which are issued when there is a risk of high ozone - at wichita.gov/ozone. The community is encouraged to follow BeAirAwareKS on Instagram and the City of Wichita on Facebook for ozone forecasts, tips and news.
Ozone is formed in the presence of four main ingredients: oxygen, heat, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides or (NOx). VOCs occur naturally or can originate from chemical fumes from paints, thinners, fuel oil, and gasoline. NOx is typically formed by internal combustion from cars, trucks, buses and lawnmowers.
For more information, visit
wichita.gov/ozone or contact Alejandro Arias-Esparza via email at
AArias@wichita.gov or at (316) 268-4413.
