Prevailing southerly and southwesterly winds are one of the great assets of Mount Vernon, bringing fresh air to us from down river.

Air pollution, however, is a fact of life in metropolitan areas. Monitoring is conducted by a network of government agencies including a county office, a Virginia state office and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) which issues daily ozone forecasts during the summer months. These forecasts can be heard by calling (202) 962-3299. Codes used are Green = Good, Yellow = Moderate, Orange = Approaching unhealthful, Red = Unhealthful.

Code red ozone alerts are broadcast on local radio stations, on public television cable channel 16 and on the web site http://cais.net/mwcog . On these days, the young, the frail and the elderly are advised to stay indoors as much as Possible. Even healthy people are advised to limit strenuous outdoor work and exercise on these days. Since ozone takes several hours to form, the highest levels usually occur from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

ü You can help during alerts by refueling your car after dusk, reducing your use of cars and aerosols, avoiding excessive engine idling, refraining from painting with oil-based paints, setting your air conditioner thermostat to 78° and refraining from lawn mowing until after the alert.

Open fires are prohibited in Fairfax County without a permit issued by the Fire Marshall. Call 246-4800 for information.

Pollution law enforcement is conducted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 583-3900, hours M-F 8:15 am to 5:00 pm, which has two inspectors in the Northern Virginia metropolitan area. After-hours pollution law violations may be reported to the Emergency Operations Center at 1-800-468-8892.