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News Release

For immediate release
July 4, 2003

Smog Advisory Lifted

Effective immediately, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has lifted its Smog Advisory for the following forecast regions:

Algonquin	London-Middlesex-Oxford
Barrie-Huronia-Simcoe County	Niagara
Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk	Parry Sound-Muskoka
Elgin	Peterborough/Kawarthas
Grey-Bruce	Renfrew
Haliburton	Sarnia-Lambton
Halton-Peel	Smiths Falls-Frontenac-Lanark
Hamilton	Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin
Huron-Perth	Windsor-Essex-Chatham-Kent
Kingston-Brockville

However, a Smog Advisory continues and is in effect until further notice for the following regions:

York-Durham	Prince Edward County
Ottawa-Prescott-Russell-Cornwall	Quinte-Northumberland
Toronto

A cold front has moved into parts of Ontario bringing clouds, showers and thunderstorms. This change in weather has resulted in much cleaner air for large parts of the province.

Smog is a hazy mix of pollutants made up of ground-level ozone, fine particulate matter and other pollutants. During the summer months, more-than half of Ontario’s smog-causing pollution originates in the United States. In cooler months, domestic sources can be significant contributors to the formation of fine particulate matter.

Ontario has one of Canada’s best air quality monitoring systems. The ministry issues Smog Advisory and Smog Watch notices in order to provide the people of Ontario with the information they need to protect themselves from the potential health effects of smog.

The Web site www.airqualityontario.com contains a list of “spare the air” actions (www.airqualityontario.com/science/spareair.cfm) to help combat smog and minimize its effect on sensitive populations. If you want to learn more about air quality, visit the Ministry of the Environment’s Web site at www.ene.gov.on.ca.

 

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Contact:
John Steele
Communications Branch
Ministry of the Environment
(416) 314-6666