Worst smog season since 2006

AUSTIN (KXAN) - With eight high ozone days so far this year, Austin is suffering from the worst smog season since 2006. The influx of drivers on the road, industrial fumes from power plants and the active wildfire season have all contributed to more pollution in Austin's skies, according to Environment Texas .

The non-profit advocacy organization released a study Wednesday showing the smoggiest cities in the state. Houston is ranked the smoggiest large metropolitan area in 2010 in Texas and the sixth smoggiest large metropolitan area in 2010. Fort Worth-Arlington and Dallas were ranked the 14th and 23rd smoggiest large metropolitan areas in the country.

Environment Texas director Luke Metzger said even though Austin doesn't make the list it is still on a troublesome path.

"Austin is quickly moving up the ranks and we have had a serious problem for a number of years now, but it's now in fact getting so bad that we may soon come into non-compliance with federal law and join the ranks of Houston and Dallas," he said.

Smog is a harmful air pollutant that can lead to serious health issues including asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses.

Dr. Elliot Trester is part of Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility. He said he is seeing more respiratory cases and it's likely because of the smog in the air.

"I think people are wondering why they are getting sypmtoms so early in the year and mostly it can start off as allergic symptoms, but then they increase their wheezing and have trouble breathing and ended up coming in here for nebulizer treatments or whatever treatment you can give them," Trester said.

One woman playing with her dogs at Lady Bird Lake Wednesday said she suffers from asthma and knows when the air quality is poor.

"There have been times when I had to quit coming out and walking my dogs which I do everyday just because I couldn't breathe my lungs would get so bad and sure enough that night the pollution would have been horrible," said Jude Ranson.

Environment Texas wants the state and the federal government to strengthen smog standards across the country. The Obama administration had considered updating the standard this year to protect public health, but the president decided earlier this month to abandon this effort until 2013.

Despite little progress on the federal level, Metzger said local officials can help improve the environment by encouraging people to get out of their cars, expanding mass transit and building more bike lanes.