{"id":237322,"date":"2026-04-06T16:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/237322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:17:07","slug":"el-paso-flagged-among-nations-most-polluted-cities-in-2025-iqair-air-quality-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/237322\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso flagged among nation\u2019s most polluted cities in 2025 IQAir air quality report"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 The 2025 IQAir World Air Quality Report<\/a> raises serious concerns about air quality in the borderland-ranking El Paso, among the most polluted cities in the country.<\/p>\n

Local experts chimed in on what they believe has led to worsening pollutant levels and with that what you can do to protect yourself.<\/p>\n

“I just feel like I’m suffocating. Like I have to kind of stretch my nose and breathe up, and it’s a very bad feeling,\u201d UTEP student, Orlando Olivas said.<\/p>\n

Students at the University of Texas at El Paso tell KFOX14 they can \u201cfeel\u201d the pollution in the air.<\/p>\n

“I actually don’t like coming to this side of town because I can breathe in the pollution. I feel the difference,\u201d UTEP student, Alexa Nunez said.<\/p>\n

Coughing, shortness of breath, or here\u2019s another one itchy, irritated eyes. These are symptoms many people in El Paso said they deal with and they could be signs of a much bigger problem.<\/p>\n

“But what this is telling us is that instead of moving towards, you know, decreasing levels of pollution, these are increasing. So that means that we’re not doing enough,\u201d UTEP Associate Professor, Dr. Gabriel Ibarra Mejia said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mejia is an expert in environmental and occupational health with a focus on air quality and pollution levels.<\/p>\n

“I always tell everyone here, if you see a haze, wear a mask,\u201d Mejia said.<\/p>\n

Now there’s a bigger need to stay alert a report from the World Health Organization ranks El Paso as one of the most polluted cities in the country.<\/p>\n

“It made a jump of about 3%. So, it moved from number 25 to number 1,\u201d Mejia said.<\/p>\n

According to the report, air pollution varied widely by region and state. In Texas, levels dropped about 9% in cities like Austin, Fort Worth, and Houston, but surged in others like El Paso.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s led to the borderland’s pollution levels spiking?<\/p>\n

“Last year, what affected us most was this increase in the frequency of dust events and dust storms and all the smoke that came from other parts of the country,\u201d Mejia said<\/p>\n

Dr. Carlo Hatem with the El Paso Pulmonary Association is aware of these environmental factors that he said are leading to more patients in his waiting room.<\/p>\n

“We have a lot of complaints during wildfire season. People do have worsening symptoms of asthma, worsening symptoms of chronic obstructive lung disease,\u201d Hatem said.<\/p>\n

Chris Bunts and her husband are patients of Dr. Hatem. They drove from Silver City because of Mr. Bunts breathing issues.<\/p>\n

“Shortness of breath. Yeah, it’s an ongoing chronic problem,\u201d Bunts said.<\/p>\n

Living out in New Mexico, they’re exposed to wildfires. Bunts said that’s perhaps the culprit.<\/p>\n

“We do smell smoke when the wind’s blowing down into our area,\u201d Bunts said.<\/p>\n

On this day, the Bunts tell us they came to Dr. Hatem for a follow-up appointment looking for some help.<\/p>\n

“An air purifier is very helpful in the home. However, there are a couple of other things that you can do to keep clean air inside the house. One is making sure that you don’t have drafty windows and doors. Well-sealed windows and doors help prevent outside air from coming in,\u201d Hatem said.<\/p>\n

Hatem urges those at higher risk to take steps to protect themselves as experts warn the situation could get worse before it gets better. <\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED: Weather service warns as dust storm cuts Sun City visibility to near zero<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up <\/a>to receive the top interesting stories from in and around our community once daily in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 The 2025 IQAir World Air Quality Report raises serious concerns about air quality…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":{"0":"post-237322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}