Five parts of California, including San Diego County, were listed among the top 10 for smog in the U.S. by the American Lung Association in a report released Wednesday.
The San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad region came in eighth smoggiest. Visalia placed second, Bakersfield-Delano third and Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran fifth.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach, not surprisingly, ranked tops for smog in the nation, and the association also faulted the region for short-term and year-round particle pollution.
The annual State of the Air report overall found that nearly half of people in the United States breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution. More than 155 million people live in regions that received “F” grades for either smog or particle pollution.
“Ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog, is a powerful respiratory irritant whose effects have been likened to a sunburn of the lungs,” according to the association. “Inhaling ozone can cause shortness of breath, trigger coughing and asthma attacks and may shorten life.’
Officials also warned that warmer temperatures driven by climate change “make ozone more likely to form and harder to clean up.”
The report based its grades on the numbers of high ozone days experienced in a region, levels of 24-hour particle pollution and annual particle pollultion.
On a countywide level, San Bernardino County was ranked as the nation’s most ozone-polluted place to live, followed by Riverside, Los Angeles, Tulare and Kern counties. Kern County also topped the list as the most polluted county in both short-term and year-round particle pollution.
San Diego receive a failing grade on the number of high-ozone days experienced by residents, but a “B” as far as particle pollution.
Many California counties did not fare so well. Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties earned failing grades in the report for all three pollution categories, as did Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Stanislaus, Sutter and Tulare counties.
“Families across the U.S. are dealing with the health impacts of air pollution every day, and extreme heat and wildfires are making it worse,” association President/CEO Harold Wimmer said in a statement. “Air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick, and leading to low birth weight in babies. This year’s report shows the dramatic impact that air pollution has on a growing number of people.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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