What's New List Serve Post Display

Breathe Well can be used on any smartphone, tablet or PC. Please
consider the following news release from the California Air
Resources Board:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/newsrelease.php?id=550

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19, 2013

NEWS RELEASE 13-76

CONTACT:

Melanie Turner
(916) 322-2990
mturner@arb.ca.gov

Sacramento — The California Air Resources Board has developed a
mobile website for smartphones and tablets that makes it possible
to see real-time levels of ozone and fine particle pollution in
your immediate area — or in towns and cities throughout
California — on an hour-by-hour basis.

“This new mobile website brings together the convenience of
smartphone technology with the State’s sophisticated air quality
monitoring network,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “It uses
the best technology available to make real-time air quality
information easily available in more than 150 locations
throughout California to protect public health, especially those
individuals who are the most vulnerable to air pollution.”

Users of the Breathe Well mobile website can check air quality
before they go outside or check air pollution levels in places
they plan to visit. The easy-to-use Breathe Well mobile website
draws on one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive air
monitoring networks in the world made possible by the significant
investment by the ARB and local air districts in California. The
site can access hour-by-hour averages of data that is relayed
from about 200 monitors statewide. 

Real-time information will help people better manage the timing
of their outdoor activities, and help teachers and parents of
children with asthma know when it’s safe to play outside or
participate in sporting activities. Real-time levels give an
accurate indication of the air quality before that level may be
reached. The hour-by-hour information can also be compared to
other air quality indicators that predict the highest levels of
pollution expected for that day, which typically are not reached
until the afternoon.

The Breathe Well website can be accessed from any PC or mobile
device with Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox or other
Internet browsers. Breathe Well’s features include:

• At-a-glance levels of ozone and fine particle pollution (PM2.5)
linked to the location of a smartphone or tablet;

• The ability to set the air pollution readout for your current
location — or one of about 150 locations; and

• Maps that pinpoint the location of nearby air quality
monitors.

Breathe Well won “Best Mobile App” at the Mobile Government 2013
conference held at the Sacramento Convention Center last March.
 
Exposure to ground-level ozone and PM2.5 (particles 2.5
micrometers in diameter or smaller) are the two pollutants that
most affect the air we breathe. High levels of ozone and fine
particles can reduce lung function, making it more difficult to
breathe, and can cause or worsen asthma and other cardiovascular
disease. Ozone is a gas that forms when sunlight combines with
emissions from traffic and other human activities. Particle
pollution may be emitted directly into the air or can form in the
air from other emissions.

San Diego County served as a test market for the Breathe Well
mobile website, rolling it out last April. Breathe Well is a
mobile website or mobile web application that can be accessed
through a browser, not an actual application that is downloaded
and resides on a mobile device. The Breathe Well mobile website
can be easily recalled by storing its Internet address
(http://breathewell.arb.ca.gov) as a ‘favorite’ in the browser
that the handheld device uses to access the Internet. 

To access Breathe Well, go to: http://breathewell.arb.ca.gov