WENATCHEE, Wash. — We may think we live in one of the state’s most pristine areas, but when it comes to pollution from woodsmoke or diesel, Wenatchee is sixth worst in the Washington, a state Department of Ecology analysis shows.

What’s more, it’s getting worse.

Last winter, Wenatchee had 42 days when air quality hit unhealthy levels between Oct. 1 and March 31, and 25 days with a burn ban in effect, said Ecology spokeswoman Joye Redfield-Wilder. It was the worst winter in the recent memory. The last four winters, including the one just passed, averaged 32 days of unhealthy air during the six months when people typically use woodstoves.

Top 12 cities for wood smoke and diesel pollution

Tacoma

Yakima

Darrington

Marysville

Vancouver

Wenatchee

Toppenish

Ellensburg

Meadowdale

Spokane

Colville

Twisp

Source: Washington

Department of Ecology

“It’s kind of a surprise to learn our air quality can be as bad as in the metropolitan areas,” Redfield-Wilder said. Wenatchee’s fine particle pollution was worse than the air quality in Seattle, Spokane, Bellevue, Lynwood or Kent.

Redfield-Wilder said air quality has steadily worsened in the Wenatchee area, despite efforts to reduce outdoor burning, winter wood smoke and diesel emissions. “We’re getting to a place in the Wenatchee Valley where the air quality is going to trigger other issues, like health problems,” she said.

Air quality is being measured at Wenatchee’s Alaska Street monitor, which registers the amount of fine particles in the air, typically coming from wood smoke and diesel fuel.

In Wenatchee, it’s probably mostly from wood smoke, Redfield-Wilder said.

She said one reason Wenatchee’s fine particle pollution is so high is that smoke gets trapped in the valley more easily because it is a relatively long and narrow valley.

Fine particle pollution is especially harmful to health because it gets deep in your lungs. “It’s like smoking cigarettes. It’s the same kind of problem,” she said. Fine particle pollution results in an estimated 1,100 deaths and $190 million in health care costs in Washington state each year, an Ecology study shows.

In its air pollution analysis ranking Wenatchee sixth worst in the state, Ecology looked at all of the state’s monitoring stations and calculated an average of the daily pollution over the past three years. The data includes summer pollution from wildfires.

Wenatchee registered an average fine particle measurement of just under 30 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

That compares with an average of about 35 micrograms measured in Tacoma, and just under 35 micrograms in Yakima, the state’s two worst ranking cities for fine particulates, the analysis shows.

Redfield-Wilder said that’s the level that the federal government begins to impose restrictions on transportation funding.

Darrington, Marysville and Vancouver also ranked worse than Wenatchee.

Other areas in North Central Washington making the top 50 list were Twisp at 12th, Winthrop at 24th and Leavenworth at 28th.

 

— Wenatchee World