New Report Finds Connecticut Air Quality Worsens; Fairfield County Again Has Worst Ozone in Region
/The Hartford-East Hartford metro area was named 28th most polluted in the nation for ozone pollution and 2nd worst in the Northeast, according to the American Lung Association’s 2024 “State of the Air” report, released this month. The report also found that the metro area ranked 4th worst in the Northeast for year-round particle pollution.
Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties all earned failing grades for ozone. Hartford, Litchfield and Tolland counties earned C grades for ozone and Windham earned a B.
Fairfield County not only remains the worst county for ozone pollution in the New York-Newark metro area but also for the entire Eastern half of the country, earning an F grade for ozone pollution for an average of 17.7 unhealthy days per year, according to the American Lung Association’s report.
For short-term particle pollution, Fairfield and New Haven counties earned C grades, while Hartford, Litchfield and New London counties earned B’s.
All Connecticut counties measured for year-round particle pollution received passing grades for pollution levels below the federal standard that was recently updated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
In Litchfield County, the number of unhealthy days for short term particle pollution more than tripled, dragging its grade down from a B in last year’s report to a D this year. For ozone pollution in the state, both Middlesex and Fairfield Counties maintained F grades, with Fairfield recording over 20 unhealthy ozone days marking it – once again - as the worst county in the New York City metro area.
The “State of the Air” report found that 156 million people in the U.S. (46%) live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution and 42.5 million people live in areas with failing grades for all three measures.
The report also found that a person of color in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade on all three pollution measures. Notably, Hispanic individuals are nearly three times as likely as white individuals to live in a community with three failing grades.
“State of the Air” report grades exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), and year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution (also known as soot) over a three-year period. The report looks at the latest quality-assured air quality data from 2021-2023.
“The air pollutants covered in this report are widespread and can impact anyone’s health. Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer,” said Ruth Canovi, for the American Lung Association.
“Unfortunately, too many people in Connecticut are living with unhealthy levels of both ozone and particle pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies.”
For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Hartford County, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area ranked 176th worst in the nation. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 146th worst in the nation.
In addition to the New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area no county in Connecticut earned higher than a D grade for short term particle pollution, and half of the reporting counties earned failing grades for ozone, according to the report’s data.
