Four years of tests have proven that the air quality in Lawrence and Douglas County is good.

Tests showed that ozone levels in Douglas County have been very low compared with the greater Kansas City area, according to a report by the county health department.

Seven years ago, the county and city of Lawrence convinced the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency that the county did not belong in the Kansas City air quality district. If Douglas County were placed in the Kansas City district, stricter emission controls would be put into place, such as requiring more expensive formulas of gasoline in vehicles.

“We’d all have to share in the solution to the problem,” said Bert Rowell, a member of the county health department’s air quality committee.

The EPA requires three years of air quality monitoring data to determine whether an area is in compliance with the Clean Air Act. For ozone levels, an eight-hour standard is expressed in the form of the three-year average of each year’s fourth-highest concentration. To exceed the standard, the average would have to be .084 parts per million.

During the 2003-2005 testing period, the average reading was .073 ppm. During 2004-2006 the average reading was .072 ppm, the study showed. Readings at various locations in the Kansas City area were generally around .08.

Testing equipment set up at Lawrence Municipal Airport by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been removed. A KDHE spokesman said keeping the monitor at the airport wasn’t financially feasible. A water line underneath the monitor also broke before it was moved, and repairs would have added to the cost.

Commissioners directed County Administrator Craig Weinaug to ask KDHE about the removal of the monitoring equipment and to see whether it could be replaced.

“Can we pitch in a little bit and help change the situation?” Commissioner Charles Jones asked during a recent meeting.

“We need to be knowledgeable and aggressive in maintaining our independence from the Kansas City region,” Commissioner Jere McElhaney said.

Rowell estimated it could cost about $100,000 for the county to get its own monitoring equipment. Weinaug said he would look into it.

The county now will use air monitoring readings taken in Leavenworth County. In past years, readings there were similar to Douglas County, KDHE said.