MDEQ Warns Of 'Unhealthy' Air Quality In Area Of Dearborn, Detroit

DEARBORN (WWJ) - There's a warning out from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality about the air on the Dearborn-Detroit border.

WWJ Newsradio 950 got a call from a listener Wednesday who was concerned about the air quality in her neighborhood — where she said the reading comes up as "unhealthy."

Officials at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's district office say the high reading Wednesday came from three monitors: at Salinas Elementary School at Wyoming Road and Dix in Dearborn, at the New Mt. Herman Church in Southwest Detroit and at West Lafayette in Detroit.

According to Susan Kilmer, unit supervisor of air monitoring for the MDEQ Air Quality Division, the high readings are due to "elevated levels of particulate matter."

In layman's terms, it's what amounts to dust in the air.

"The instruments measure mass or basically dust," Kilmer told WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "So it's small particles that are in the air, and these instruments measure those particles in terms of their weight."

Kilmer said the highest reading Wednesday morning was at the West Layfayette location, measuring at PM2.5. In that instance, the instruments show the particles have been blowing in from the north.

Kilmer said officials can only guess at the cause.

"The instruments are not able to tell us what the makeup is of those particles, but this is an indicator of air quality," Kilmer said. "It could be that it's from the bridge area. The West Lafayette station is very close to the Ambassador bridge...from traffic. Sometimes traffic backups, truck traffic, that kind of thing, can cause elevated particulate pollution."

Kilmer said at times she has seen an elevated spike in these areas, but she "wouldn't say that it's common" for readings to reach an unhealthy level.

As a result, the MDEQ recommends that people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children in that area should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion until the air is clear. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.

It's unclear how long the problem is likely to last.

Residents across Michigan and the U.S. can monitor local air quality readings by entering their zip code at AirNow.gov.