It likely will come as no surprise that south Davis County is in the middle of the sixth most polluted area for fine particulates in the nation.

The bad news was released Wednesday by the American Lung Association which gave the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield area an F grade for both short-term particulate pollution and ozone in its 2009 State of the Air report.

The 10th annual national report acknowledges that substantial progress has been made against pollution in many areas of the country, but finds nearly every major city still battling with major pollution problems.

The report assigned letter grades to communities and ranked cities and counties most affected by the three most widespread types of pollution — fine particulate, measured on a 24-hour basis annually, and ozone.

There may be good news in the report if it makes Utahns more aware of the problem. “We need to come up with unique ideas for working to overcome our air quality problem,” said Craig Cutright, executive director of the American Lung Association in Utah.

Cutright said the state’s residents have shown before that they can come together for a common cause. He pointed to the 2002 Olympics when a lot of businesses adjusted work schedules to ease congestion from the roads. Not having as many cars idling in traffic helps ease pollution, he said.

The state’s lung association is currently working on a strategic plan to better define what needs to be done.

The report shows that in the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield area, there are 49,000 children suffering from asthma, 100,000 adult asthma cases and 41,000 chronic bronchitis cases. There are also 414,000 cases of people with cardiovascular disease an 87,000 cases of diabetes — all affected by pollution.

“This should be a wake-up call. We know that air pollution is a major threat to human health,” said Stephen Nolan, the association’s national board chair. “When 60 percent of Americans are left breathing air dirty enough to send people to the emergency room, to shape how kid’s lung develop, and to kill, air pollution remains a serious issue.”

But Cutright hopes Utahns can find an answer by working together.

He said that there are many strident voices out there which want to shut down industries and limit vehicle travel, but he said the association’s goal is to work closely with people in a good way. “We want clean air, but we don’t want to put businesses out of business. We want this to be a win-win thing.”

Cutright said the air quality, even along the Wasatch Front, is better than it used to be. He remembers people burning coal and using wood-burning stoves for heat and having to clean walls each spring.

But while it may be better than decades ago, as the state grows, it will become a bigger issue than it currently is. And with budget cuts to the state’s Division of Air Quality, cleaning the air may be even more difficult.

Cutright is encouraging volunteers to become involved with the work the association is doing and to participate in the Lung Walk, scheduled for May 16.

mwilliams@davisclipper.com