solifail.blogg.se - Bakersfield california

Where does Bakersfield Kern County rank in the world for air pollution?īakersfield is frequently reputed to be the most polluted city in the United States. Forecast air quality data in Bakersfield can be a useful tool for planning ahead to protect one’s home and office from spikes in air pollution and to avoid outdoor activity during a day’s most polluted hours. Follow Bakersfield’s live air quality data at the top of this page to stay up to date with current health advisories. While such estimates are concerning, it is important to note that, even in polluted environments, it is possible to breathe clean air.

More than 17,000 days of respiratory symptoms in children.

188,400 days of reduced activity in adults.

3,230 cases of acute bronchitis in children.

460 early deaths among those age 30 and older.

The 69,895 Bakersfield residents with asthma, 66,853 with heat and lung disease, 259,180 children under 18, and 98,347 adults over 65 are all disproportionately subject to Bakersfield’s frequent unhealthy air quality days.Ī 2006 study on the effects of air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley estimated that air pollution cost the region roughly $3 billion, or roughly $1,000 per person, per year. Such exceedances in unhealthy pollution tend to more acutely jeopardize the health of Bakersfield’s “sensitive individuals,“ including children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing heart and lung conditions. In the 3-year monitoring period from 2016 to 2018, there were 257 unhealthy ozone days were labeled “orange” (unhealthy for sensitive groups), while 35 unhealthy ozone days were labeled “red” (unhealthy for the general public). Ozone is a highly corrosive, highly irritating gas pollutant and key component of “smog.” Breathing ozone has been connected to health effects ranging from difficulty breathing and coughing to permanent lung damage, lung cancer, and early death.īakersfield averages a startling 103.2 unhealthy ozone days a year, more than 32 times the federal allowance of 3.2 days. Ground-level ozone is another pollutant of grave concern in Bakersfield. By this air quality standard, Bakersfield still has a long way to go before meeting guidelines for healthy air. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses an even more stringent guideline for annual PM2.5, suggesting that residents should be exposed to no more than 10 μg/m 3 per year.

Before this year, Bakersfield averaged a PM2.5 concentration of 15.9 μg/m 3 in 2018 and 16.2 μg/m 3 in 2017.

In all previous recorded years, Bakersfield failed to meet this standard. This average was derived by weighting 64 “orange” (unhealthy for sensitive groups) pollution days and 29 “red” (unhealthy for the general public) days over the three-year period.įor annual PM2.5 pollution, Bakersfield averaged a yearly mean concentration of 11.3 μg/m 3 in 2019, thus meeting the federal standard of less than 12 μg/m 3. In the 3-year monitoring period from 2016 to 2018, Bakersfield averaged 35.8 unhealthy PM2.5 days a year, far exceeding the federal allowance of 3.2 days. These standards mandate that there should be no more than 3.2 unhealthy PM2.5 days per year, and annual PM2.5 concentrations should not exceed 12 μg/m 3. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards for both short-term (24-hour) PM2.5, and annual PM2.5. In Bakersfield, PM2.5 sources include the extraction, mining, and refining of petroleum by oil and gas companies, industrial activity powered by fossil fuels, the motor transport of goods to and from distribution centers, agricultural dust, personal vehicular emissions, wood burning, and smoke from active wildfires. Exposure to PM2.5 has been definitively linked to adverse health effects, such as coughing, chest pain, heart arrhythmias, cancer, the development of cardiovascular disease, and early death. PM2.5 is so small that when inhaled, it can easily slip past the body’s respiratory defenses and become absorbed into the circulatory system, thus contributing to far-reaching health effects.

Since the size of particulates is the key identifying feature of PM2.5, it includes a mixture of particles ranging in chemical composition to include dust, dirt, soot, chemicals, aerosols, and viruses. PM2.5 describes fine particulate matter suspended in the air that measures 2.5 microns or smaller. The city’s air quality, however, continues to exceed standards for short-term pollution measures (24-hour PM2.5 and 24-hour ozone). 1 In 2019, Bakersfield reached attainment for annual PM2.5 for the first time. Until 2019, Bakersfield had failed to meet federal guidelines for 24-hour PM2.5, 24-hour ozone, and annual PM2.5 since records began around the turn of the century. How is the air quality in Bakersfield, CA?īakersfield, California suffers from frequent unhealthy air quality.