Thick haze hung over Washington’s second-largest city, forcing vehicles to turn on their headlights during the morning commute. In Spokane, air quality slipped into the “hazardous” range. The Federal Aviation Administration said airplanes bound for the Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle’s main airport, may be delayed because of low visibility. You see the number of forest fires increasing, and so there’s going to be wildfires,” Wineke said. Wineke said climate change is expected to contribute to many more fires. It’s a rare occurrence that also happened last year, raising concerns for many locals that it may become normal during wildfire season. The latest round of prolonged smoke happened as hot temperatures and high pressure collided, said Andrew Wineke, a spokesman for the state Ecology Department’s air quality program. “It didn’t feel that great to my lungs,” he said.įorest fires are common, but typical Seattle-area weather pushes it out of the way quickly. In Colorado, Sid Vaughn, who works at a Boulder shoe store called the Boulder Running Co., did his usual 9-mile run Monday despite the smoke. “Today, biking, you can see the whole city in haze and you can’t see the skyline.” “I went biking yesterday, and I really felt it in my lungs, and I was really headachy and like, lethargic,” Simon said Monday. Simon said he won’t let the kids ride as far or take part in as many running games like tag while the air quality is bad. Portland resident Zach Simon supervised a group of children in a summer biking camp who paused at a huge water fountain by the Willamette River, where gray, smoky haze obscured a view of Mount Hood. The smoky pollution, even in Colorado, came from wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest’s Cascade Mountains, clouding a season that many spend outdoors. Thick smoke in Denver blocked the view of some of Colorado’s famous mountains and prompted an air quality health advisory for the northeastern quarter of the state. Portland Public Schools suspended all outdoor sports practices. Portland, Oregon, residents who were up early saw a blood-red sun shrouded in smoke and huffed their way through another day of polluted air. Seattle’s Space Needle was swathed in haze, and it was impossible to see nearby mountains. Officials also must prioritize resources during the longer firefighting season, so some blazes may be allowed to burn in unpopulated areas. This is also the case for water pollution - after upgrading to clean sewage, you'll notice that the stream of pollution moves away from your river and isn't replenished.As large cities dealt with unhealthy air for a second summer in a row, experts warned that it could become more common as the American West faces larger and more destructive wildfires because of heat and drought blamed on climate change. I personally like to use offices as a buffer zone between residential areas and industrial ones.Īs to how you can remove it: simply don't build anything polluting and eventually the pollution will be gone. I did notice myself that offices don't have as much issue with pollution as residential buildings but whether that is cause or effect is unclear. There is no source however so I would not rely on this until confirmed reliably. The way it's phrased it would indicate that trees (from the decoration tab) help with pollution. Buildings producing noise or ground pollution should be moved away from residential areas. Placing offices will reduce the amount of sound pollution. And sound pollution produced by roads can be lowered by upgrading them sound barriers for motorways, and trees for normal roads. Pollution can be decreased by planting trees in polluted areas. On Skylineswiki there is a note that says Some other things like airports, trainstations and dump yards also cause these so you should consider putting them on the outskirts of cities and preferably with a buffer zone between residential areas. One major cause of ground/noise pollution is industry which has an equally straightforward solution: separate it from your residential areas so the suburban society doesn't complain. This is the only cause of water pollution that I have come across so far.Īs to the other pollution there are two types left: noise and ground. The water pollution should be easily solved: place your sewage things downstream from the fresh water things, that way they won't take in polluted water.