APCD installs first air filtration system in Grace Elementary School.

Students and faculty members at Grace Smith Elementary in Niland is the first school to have an air filtration system in the Imperial Valley.

With the already poor air quality in the open desert and the receding soil from the Salton Sea, the school was an ideal pick for the system.

Thomas Brinkerhoff , the project manager for the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District said the filtration system will capture up to ninety percent of airborne particulate emissions that can be harmful to your body over time.

” When it comes to students, children at these schools, you know they’re very vulnerable. They’re still in development, growing with their lungs and respiratory systems. And it’s very beneficial to get ahead of this and protect them as they are growing up. And to make sure they don’t have any long term impacts to their health, ” said Brinkerhoff .

Health officials said one in five children in Imperial County will have asthma in their lifetime.