How bad is the air in California?

Links to many different kinds of bad air data: air quality trends, real time pollution level maps and monitoring readouts, studies and much more.

• Daily Air Quality Status and Forecast (SJVAPCD)
• Air Quality Maps of the San Joaquin Valley with maps displaying ambient air quality data collected by the real-time air monitoring networks operated by the Valley Air District and CARB
• Today's Ozone and Particulate Matter Movies (AIRNow)
• 2003 - present Annual Ozone Summary (CARB)
• CARB California Air Quality Data - most recent air quality, yesterday's ozone, historical air quality, California almanac, air quality monitoring network, special studies, etc.
• Real time query tool (CARB) - by county, air basin or part of state
• 2003 California Almanac of Emissions and Air Quality (CARB) - past, current and future air quality trends
• Detailed Ozone Exceedances 1998-2001
• Community Health Air Pollution Information System (CHAPIS) - find your neighborhood on the interactive air pollution map
• CARB air quality data and statistics - good for detailed searches
• Diesel Soot Health Impacts (Clean Air Task Force) - statistics on the effect of diesel pollution on your community

What is the Air Quality Index?

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a scale that gives an indication of how bad the air pollution is on a given day. Different grades of colors - from green to purple - signify good to very unhealthy air quality days. During ozone season (May to September), many newspapers report AQI forecasts in the weather section. The AQI ranges from 0 (the best-air is completely healthy to breathe) and 300 (the worst-put on a gas mask).

• To find out more about the AQI, including air quality guides for ozone and PM as well as publications in both Spanish and English, visit the AIRNow website.
• Learn about the AQI forecast in your area for today or tomorrow.
• View a chart to be used to modify outdoor activities on high-AQI days.

How bad is the air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley?

Ozone:

Kern, Fresno, Tulare, and Merced Counties are among the top ten counties in the nation for the number of at-risk people exposed to dangerously high levels of ozone pollution. [Read more]

Particulate Matter (PM):

Despite some progress toward cleaner air, the Valley is still home to some of the worst PM pollution in the country. Five of the Valley's eight counties are on the American Lung Association's 2005 Top-25 Worst Polluted Counties list. [Read more] 

PM-10 concentrations recorded over the last few years have shown improvement over the years before, however, certain types of monitors operated by the Air District have continued to show violations of the federal health standard.

Health:

Children in the Valley are more than 35% more likely to have asthma than their national counterparts. Rates of asthma are highest among children who live in Fresno and Kings Counties, where over 20% of children ages 0-17 have been diagnosed with asthma, compared with 15.8% Valley wide. [Read more (PDF)].

Nearly 12,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley Air District are hospitalized each year for asthma, including more than 5,000 children. [Read more]

How much does air pollution cost?

• A conservative estimate of the Valley’s annual school absenteeism due to asthma totals approximately 808,000 absences, accounting for lost revenue to regional school districts of at least $26 million annually. Read more.
• In Fresno, Modesto, Bakersfield, Salinas, and Stockton alone, the financial cost of asthma is more than $85 million per year. (Asthma and Allergy Foundation website)
• It has been reported that the annual costs of asthma in the United States are between $8 billion and $11 billion (1997 dollars). Hospitalizations account for the largest proportion of costs of asthma treatment, especially for very young children. Smith, David et al. (1997), A National Estimate of the Economic Costs of Asthma, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol.156, pp. 787-793.)
  
  
• According to the Air District, ozone pollution causes as much as $270 million a year in damaged agricultural crops in the Valley. 
• Particle Civics: How Cleaner Air in California Will Save Lives and Save Money - Environmental Working Group
  In California, respiratory illnesses caused or made worse by airborne particulate matter (PM) are responsible for 9,300 deaths, 16,000 hospital visits, 600,000 asthma attacks and five million lost work days each year. This report shows that by saving lives and preventing illnesses, tougher standards could save more than half a billion dollars a year.

How does air pollution affect our national parks?

Air pollution from the San Joaquin Valley drifts up and reduces visibility levels in the national parks. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have the highest air pollution levels of any national park west of the Mississippi and has been rated one the smoggiest park in the nation. See Code Red: America's Five Most Polluted National Parks, June 2004.

On some days, ozone levels in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are higher than in Los Angeles.

A vast majority of the trees in a study by the Forest Service in Sierra and Sequoia National Forests show smog damage. See technical report on Forest Health Monitoring, West Coast Region, USDA/Forest Service (2000).

Read an articles about park pollution in the Fresno Bee: Smog moves out of the city ... and often finds its way into the national parks (7/17/06) and Sequoia-Kings Canyon is victim of second-hand smog from Valley (7/18/06).