Normally, in this blog we focus on the application of ozone in the treatment of water. Given that the Olympics are taking place in London the following news item caught our eye.
During the week leading up to the Olympic Games, London experienced its worst ozone episode for six years. Fortunately fresh westerly winds began to clear London’s air pollution just before the opening ceremony.
On 21 July high pressure moved over the UK and air began to slowly circulate over southern England and the near continent, one of the most densely populated and industrial areas of Europe. Ground-level ozone slowly built up due to the action of sunlight and high temperatures on pollution emitted from vehicles and industry.
Ground level ozone peaked in London on 25 July reaching high levels according to the UK air quality index: they exceeded the World Health Organisation Guidelines by around 80% and resulted in an emergency pollution alert. Ozone concentrations remained above WHO guidelines for most of the following night.
So, it might be interesting to know what type of ozone the people in London were worried about.
In the Earth’s lower atmosphere, near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants,chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight. Ozone pollution is a concern during the summer months when the weather conditions needed to form ground-level ozone; lots of sun, hot temperatures normally occur.
Ozone can irritate your respiratory system, causing you to start coughing, feel an irritation in your throat and/or experience an uncomfortable sensation in your chest. Ozone can reduce lung function and make it more difficult for you to breathe as deeply and vigorously as you normally would. When this happens, you may notice that breathing starts to feel uncomfortable. If you are exercising or working outdoors, you may notice that you are taking more rapid and shallow breaths than normal. Ozone can aggravate asthma. When ozone levels are high, more people with asthma have attacks that require a doctors attention or the use of additional medication. One reason this happens is that ozone makes people more sensitive to allergens, which are the most common triggers for asthma attacks. Also, asthmatics are more severely affected by the reduced lung function and irritation that ozone causes in the respiratory system. Ozone can inflame and damage cells that line your lungs. Within a few days, the damaged cells are replaced and the old cells are shed much in the way your skin peels after a sunburn. Ozone may aggravate chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis and reduce the immune systems ability to fight off bacterial infections in the respiratory system.
So, thankfully, the athletes of the 30th Olympiad did not have to face high levels of ozone and can be faster, higher and stronger.