A drawing by a 3rd grader from Merced County

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]