Riverside County air gets an “F”
The air that we breath gets a failing grade, according to the American Lung Association.
Despite decades of air quality improvement, a new report listed Riverside, San Bernadino and Los Angeles counties as having the worst pollution in the United States.
Riverside County received failing grades for both particle pollution (fourth in the nation) and ozone pollution (second in the nation).
“We have definitely made a lot of progress since the Clean Air Act was enacted in the ’70’s,” said Dr. Kristie Ross of the UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, “but we still have a long way to go.”
In the Coachella Valley, ozone pollution blows in from Riverside through the
Banning Pass, according to Sam Atwood of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
There is some good news on the horizon for Coachella Valley asthma sufferers. The operators of the CPV Sentinel Energy Project in Desert Hot Springs will contribute $53 million in air pollution reduction projects in the Coachella Valley over the next few years.
Some of the projects under consideration include a bike/golf cart path from Whitewater to Coachella, an urban forest, and replacing city vehicles with cars that run on natural gas.
“Anyone who lives in Southern California knows the air quality has gotten better but we still have a long way to go,” said Desert Hot Springs councilman Russel Betts, who supports the latter two proposals.
Pollution can be detrimental to the health of older people and children, as well as those who suffer from asthma, heart disease and diabetes, according to the American Lung Association.
