9 in 10 Californians live with polluted air, according to a new report
A new report by the American Lung Association revealed that nine in ten Californians live with polluted air, and one in three in the nation is exposed to unhealthy air.
According to the 24th annual "State of the Air" report, more than 98% Californians are living in a community that earned a failing grade for unhealthy ozone pollution days, unhealthy particle pollution days and/or unhealthful annual particle pollution levels.
Mariela Ruacho, Clean Air Advocacy Manager for the Lung Association, said, "Local and state actions have driven real progress in California, but there is much work to be done to ensure every Californian has clean, healthy air to breathe. Even one poor air quality day is one too many for children, older adults, people with chronic illness, lower-income residents and people of color."
There were 12 cities in California that appeared on the list of most polluted cities in the nation. This includes:
- Long Beach
- Bakersfield
- El Centro
- Roseville
- San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland metro area
- Visalia
- Chico
- Redding
- Paso Robles
- Salinas
- Fresno-Madera-Hanford metro area
Here in Sacramento area, Roseville made the Top 10 for each of the most polluted cities list due to major wildfire smoke events. However, both traffic pollution and wildfire smoke contributed heavily to the state's pollution challenges.
Ruacho also said, "California must shift to zero-emission technologies and invest public funds only in transportation projects that support healthy air. Ensuring California's clean air and fire agencies are equipped to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire smoke events is also a major need in the fight for clean air."
Due to the success of the Clean Air Act, the report found that ozone pollution has improved nationwide. However, more work still needs to be done to fully clean up harmful pollution.
This report covers Americans' exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution, annual particle pollution and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period, from 2019 to 2021.