El Dorado County ranks slightly below Sacramento County in air quality, according to a recent report.

Although Sacramento has more code-red ozone days, meaning unhealthy over hours of exposure for the general population, El Dorado has more code-orange ozone days -- unhealthy for children, asthma sufferers and the elderly, the California Lung Association reported Thursday.

Sensitive respiratory tracts are excessively stressed at ozone levels of .120 parts per million in air, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has said. Ozone is an airborne molecule with three atoms of oxygen. The gas oxygen consists of two oxygen atoms per molecule.

El Dorado County has 65 code-orange ozone days and 2 code-red ozone days per year, the report said. Sacramento County has 54 orange days and seven red days a year.

“The air districts are making strides, but we’re not where we need to be,” said Amber Markow, spokeswoman for the lung association.

Ozone season -- roughly meaning automotive smog season -- is May 1 through Sept. 30. The EPA sets a safety level for ozone outdoors of .075 parts per million in air.

Local air was pretty good through April, but right on schedule, the first weekend in May saw drivers ramp up ozone to slightly unhealthy levels in Placerville -- .078 ppm on May 3 according to the state Air Resources Board. Folsom came in just under the wire May 3 at .074 ppm of ozone.

High above the Central Valley, Echo Summit in El Dorado County hasn’t posted much better ozone numbers than have either Placerville or Folsom, air board figures show.

The town of Cool in El Dorado, however, was within standards on a smoggy May 3. In recent weeks, Cool has posted the best local ozone figure – .038 ppm on May 5, according to the air board..

Although the lung association grades both Sacramento and El Dorado a straight “F” on air quality, neither county tends to have a code-purple ozone day, with air immediately dangerous to health for the general population. Around the state, 26 counties received a failing grade. Several are in the Mountain Air Basin designated by the state, as is El Dorado.

Gwendolyn W. Young, board chair of the state lung association, said, “Both our California scores and the national trends tell us loud and clear that we have more work to do - including ensuring the protection of the federal Clean Air Act - to prevent our families and neighbors from breathing air that’s simply hazardous to our health.”