Local experts say Air Quality Health Index has limitations
KAMLOOPS — The authors of a new report on air quality are suggesting it may be time to do away with the Air Quality Health Index.
Co-authored by Dr. Robert Schemenauer, an expert in atmospheric physics and Dr. Peter Tsigaris, a professor of economics at Thompson Rivers University, the pair wrote their report on the July and August smoke events in Kamloops.
In it, they note the “limitations of the AQHI” to describe the particulate concentrations in the air, noting reporting on measurements using the PM 2.5 concentrations is more accurate.
For instance, they found the monthly PM 2.5 concentrations in Kamloops in July and August were the highest since records started in 1998.