The California Gas Leak Continues: How to Protect Yourself

Austin Air

The Austin Air Healthmate Plus

As a massive leak of natural gas from a storage facility in California continues, residents living near the site are beginning to become more and more concerned about the potential effects of the gas on the air surrounding them. Just this week, the South Coast Air Quality Management District filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Southern California Gas Co., the company in charge of the storage facility. Needless to say, this has resulted in serious concerns about whether or not the air quality in the immediate area of the California gas leak is healthy to breathe.

 

  Is the California Gas Leak Harmful to Health?

 

This is a question to which there is no hard and definitive answer at the moment. In the earlier stages of the leak, regulatory authorities were largely in agreement that the leak posed a minimal risk to human health, although residents living extremely close to the storage site were evacuated. Alongside the recent lawsuit, however, air quality regulators in California have required Southern California Gas Co. to finance an independent study into the health effects of the leak. Many have accused the company of initially understating the potential long-term effects that the gas in the air could have on those surrounding the Porter Ranch facility, and many residents have even resorted to protesting for the immediate closure of the site over health concerns.

 

Putting all of this together, there is a very high probability that the amount of natural gas currently in the air near the site of the California Gas Leak is sufficient to have negative effects on human health. While the full effects of the gas will likely not be known until studies have been conducted to determine how severe the damage is, the threat is real enough to justify taking precautions.

 

  How to Protect Yourself

 

In order to protect yourself from the ambient natural gas in the air around the site of the Porter Ranch gas leak, an air purifier with an activated carbon filter is required. Because natural gas is not a particulate, a standard HEPA purification system will not remove the gas from the air. Activated carbon, on the other hand, will trap gaseous organic compounds, such as methane, removing it from indoor air.

 

The top recommendation for those affected by the California Gas Leak is the Austin Air Healthmate Plus. This high-quality, top of the line air purifier offers activated carbon filtration as part of a four-stage purification process and can cover any area of up to 1,500 square feet. This unit also offers free standard shipping, with expedited shipping available for those close enough to the natural gas storage facility to be in immediate danger.

 

  Conclusion

 

It is becoming more and more clear that the California gas leak will prove to be a much more major health issue than originally thought. Even now, it is impossible to tell just how damaging the effects of the massive amounts of natural gas in the air in southern California will be. Those who wish to afford themselves some protection from the harmful gas would do well to use a home air purifier capable of removing methane from the air. While it will not fix the problem of outdoor air, a high-quality home air purifier can help to protect you and your family in your home.