State of the Air
Interesting table showing the supposed air quality of the various California counties. Humboldt is one of three without a rating for some reason and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the ratings of some counties. How can some of these rural counties with fewer people and traffic end up with lower scores than, say, San Francisco?
Also, unless I'm just not seeing it, I don't see Lassen County listed.
Labels: Air quality, smog
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:33 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Fred, just a couple of observations: first dealing with San Francisco, if you look across the bay and downwind a little both Alameda and Santa Clara counties have significant air quality issues most likely as a result of San Francisco; secondly, the north coast air basin (Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity) and the Lake/Medocino air basins are the cleanest in the state; and finally, Lassen, Modoc, Alpine, Sierra and other high elevation counties, with the exception of Inyo/Mono, I don't think qualify as "air basins" under the legal definition.
Why is my county missing?Most counties don’t have monitors. The state and EPA decide where to place monitors. We report on data gathered in monitors in roughly 1,000 counties throughout the United States. Counties not included in the report are counties where there are no ozone or particle pollution monitors.
There is a "Particle Polution" rating that includes Humboldt. It's a tab on the chart. Humboldt gets an A.
There is a "Particle Polution" rating that includes Humboldt. It's a tab on the chart. Humboldt gets an A.
Several counties are not listed. Trinity is one. Things like forest fires and trash burning may effect this report just as car smog would. Arcata once had one of the lowest air quality rates because all of the trash in Arcata was burned. This is no longer the case. I think it is interesting to note that the study also shows Humboldt has 6% of it's population being documented as having Diabetes, while most other counties have a rate of about 5.5%.
How can some of these rural counties with fewer people and traffic end up with lower scores than, say, San Francisco?Probably because the wind cleans the SF air on a daily basis. The East Bay probably gets blamed for SF air.
Post a Comment
<< Home