Orange County NC Website
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<br /> 48 <br /> <br />Environmental Health <br /> <br />Environmental Health includes air quality, drinking, and ground water quality; food safety and <br />protection; sewer systems; solid waste management, and lead hazards. <br /> <br />Air Quality <br />The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculates the Air Quality Index (AQI) for six major air <br />pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: 1) ground-level ozone, 2) particle pollution (also known as <br />particulate matter), 3) carbon monoxide, 4) sulfur dioxide, 5) nitrogen dioxide, and 6) lead73. <br />On days where AQI reaches higher than 100, persons sensitive to air pollutants may experience health <br />effects due to ozone exposure. Such exposure can lead to respiratory symptoms, disruption in lung <br />function, and inflammation of airways.74 <br /> <br /> Ozone is one of the 6 major air pollutants measured in the AQI that has been linked to increased <br />frequency of asthma attacks and use of health care services. <br /> <br /> Ozone exposure may also affect respiratory system development in very young children.75 <br /> <br /> In Orange County, there were 28 days where the heat index was over 95 degrees in 2015, compared <br />to 20 the year before. The average number of days for the 5 years prior to 2014 was 35 days. <br /> <br /> We have seen an increase in the rate of Melanoma (skin) cancer in the past 10 years from <br />approximately 15 cases per 100,000 people in 2001 to 37 cases per 100,000 people in 2012. <br />While also increasing, NC has not seen the steep increase that Orange County has seen, with a <br />statewide rate of 23 per 100,000 people in 2012 (shown in figure 37). <br /> <br /> White non-Hispanic males show a higher incidence of melanoma than white non-Hispanic females. <br />Numbers were too few to establish a rate for other races or ethnicities (shown in figure 38). <br /> <br />Figure 37: Figure 38: <br /> <br />