The B.C. Lung Association has launched a Web site that allows users to check the air pollution levels of their communities.

Log on to Air Quality Health Index B.C. and you can quickly find a one-to-ten rating for the day’s air.

The Web site offers suggestions for how the general population should interpret ratings and advises whether “at risk populations,”  for example those with asthma or emphysema, should take caution.

“Recently people have developed a real interest in air quality,” Scott McDonald, executive director for the B.C. Lung Association, told the Straight. “It’s good for them to be able to go to a web site and look at the air quality where they live.”

According to the AQHI, measured air pollutants known to harm human health include ozone, fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. The Web site’s index rating is based on the relative risk of the combination of those common air pollutants.

On August 16, B.C. Minister of Environment Barry Penner announced the provincial government had invested $100,000 into the B.C. Lung Association’s public education campaign on air quality.