Ambient Air Quality affects everyone everywhere. Whether it is agricultural dust, pollution from vehicles, or smog from major industry, ambient air can have major effects on the health of individuals.

Here in Iowa, we live in a more rural setting, which tends to promote better air quality than those areas that are heavily populated. But that is not a reason to ignore the air that we breathe. Children often play outside during hot, muggy summer afternoons. Their lungs are still developing, and they breathe more rapidly and inhale more air pollution per pound of body weight than adults. On days when smog levels are high, these factors put children at increased risk for respiratory problems. Adults breathe about 20,000 times each day. During exercise or strenuous work, we breathe more often and draw air more deeply into our lungs. When we exercise heavily, we may breathe in up to ten times more air than we breathe when we are resting.

UHL Services
The Ambient Air Quality division of the University Hygienic Laboratory works in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency to preserve the air quality of the state.

The University Hygienic Laboratory maintains a network of instruments and devices located throughout the state to monitor ambient air with the exception of Linn and Polk Counties, whose air monitoring networks are maintained by their respective health departments. Currently, the Laboratory maintains a monitoring network that consists of the following constituents:

• sulfur dioxide (SO₂)
• ozone (O₃)
• nitrogen dioxide(NO₂)
• particulate matter monitors of 10 microns and less (PM-10), 2.5 microns and smaller (PM-2.5)
• PM-2.5 speciation
• air toxics
• hydrogen sulfide
• ammonia
• wind speed
• wind direction

The University Hygienic Laboratory also has another division of the Air Quality department that focuses on the evaluation of industrial stack tests. The stack testers work in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to evaluate tests performed on industrial emission stacks within the state of Iowa. This section of the Laboratory is responsible for attending and evaluating all tests performed on new and modified stacks.