PHOENIX - Dust control is one phrase used often in the Valley, as it is a problem to the community we live in.
Eric Massey, Director at Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, says many new innovations are being used and tested to help control the amount of dust in the air.
One is a high risk dust forecast that is sent out to individuals who have dust generating operations.
"We do a high risk forecast now, so when we're looking at the conditions that lead to the high concentrations of dust that are related to wind, what we're doing is sending out an alert to our regulated community three to five days in advance," Massey said.
That means those operations must do dust control on some level leading up to and during the event.
Other efforts include electronic monitoring stations throughout the Valley that monitor real-time data and alert officials to unhealthy dust levels.
It continues to be a work in progress, especially in highly populated Maricopa County, but according to Massey, the county is succeeding in efforts of meeting the EPA's federal health standard for dust.