Indoor Air
Indoor air quality can have a significant effect on your health. Most people spend most of their time indoors, and depending on the type of pollutant, indoor air can be much more polluted than outdoor air. Indoor air pollution comes from indoor sources, such as cooking, harsh cleaning products and fragrances, and from outdoor air pollution that makes its way inside.
Outdoor Air
Having good outdoor air quality is important because people do not have a choice about the air they breathe. Sources of air pollution in Washington State include motor vehicles, gas and diesel-powered equipment, outdoor burning, wood smoke, industries, and wildfires.
Health Impacts
Air pollution is linked to a variety of health problems including wheezing and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, aggravation of asthma and other respiratory diseases, chest pain, non-fatal heart attacks, and premature death among people with existing lung and heart conditions.
Everyone can be impacted by poor indoor or outdoor air quality. People with increased health risks from poor air quality include: people with heart and lung diseases (like asthma and COPD), people with respiratory infections, people with diabetes, people 18 and younger or older than 65, pregnant people, people who smoke, outdoor workers, people of color, Tribal and Indigenous people, people with disabilities, people who are unhoused, and people with low income.