General Information    Air Pollution    Water Pollution    Solid Waste    Toxic and Hazardous Waste    

General Pollution Information

• Environmental Profiles-- California from theEPA can give you a pollution profile of your county. Select a county, and get a report on air quality, drinking water, surface water, hazardous waste, and toxic chemical releases.  This is a good site for getting access to a vast amount of information from the EPA on pollutants of all types.

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Air Pollution   California really did not invent air pollution.  Human-induced air pollution has been around at least since humans first discovered fire.  But one particular type of air pollution--photochemical smog--has been strongly associated with California for decades.  Many parts of California have almost perfect conditions for the development of photochemical smog.  The necessary ingredients are: 1) the type of pollutants put out by automobiles, and 2) sunlight.  The primary pollutants involved are a complicated mixture of oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons, both emitted by the millions of automobiles on our freeways and roads.  In the presence of sunlight, reactions take place that form a new set of chemicals, including ozone, which is a corrosive substance, harmful to the health of humans and other living things.  Since California has lots of cars and lots of sunshine, we also have lots of smog.  Things get worse when you add in thermal inversions, typical of many parts of California, which trap the air with its pollutants, and lead to a concentration of pollutants. For a little more detail on these complex subjects, see Thermal Inversions and Photochemical Smog.

• The job of the California Air Resources Board is "to promote and protect public health, welfare and ecological resources through the effective and efficient reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering the effects on the economy of the state".  This is a very good place to start if you are looking for information on air pollution.  There is a tremendous amount of information about air quality that can be accessed from this site.
• A brief synopsis of California's Air Quality History, from 1930 to the 1990's, by the Air Resources Board.
• A map of California's Air Districts.
• Hazardous Air Pollutant Report: CALIFORNIA , from the Environmental Defense Fund, looks at concentrations of  148 hazardous air pollutants, discusses the risk of cancer and noncancer hazards, and maps location of pollutants (the map doesn't always work). Here is a ranking of California counties by danger from various health risks from pollutants; choose from several ranking criteria, and see where your county falls in the ranking. Lots of information at this site on hazardous air pollutants.
• Los Angeles Copes with Air Pollution is a report from the World Resources Institute.
• State Impacts: California is the EPA's evaluation of the effects of global climate change on the state.  What climate changes have we seen so far?  How will this affect agriculture, water resources, ecosystems, human health?  This summary discusses what is known and what the possibilities are.
• State and Local Climate Change--California discusses greenhouse gas emissions in the state, programs to reduce emissions, and related topics.
• Climate Change, from the World Resources Institute, is a good starting point for accessing a lot of general information on global climate change.
• Information on zero-emissions vehicles, such as electric cars, and cars powered by fuel cells.
• Bay Area Spare the Air Home Page site, with lots of information and links, from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
• Sacrament Spare the Air, with current air quality reports and  forecasts for the Sacramento Region.
• South Coast Air Quality Management District (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San BernardinoCounties) "where 15 million people breathe the dirtiest air in the U.S."
• Get current hourly readings of air quality using a clickable map from the South Coast Air Quality Management District .
• 1000 Friends of Fresno provides air quality information for Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, and a lot of information on air pollution in general.
• Here is a map of areas with potential radon problems in the Western U.S.  Radon (Rn) is a page from the EPA that is a good introduction to the health hazards and potential for exposure. There is also lots of information on radon from the Lawrence Berkeley Lab's High Radon Project.
• A list of air quality links on the web, including a list of all the Air Quality Management District web sites in California, from the Air Resources Board.

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Water Pollution Here, we're concentrating on water pollution.  Water supply is a vital and complex issue in California as well. Dealing with water pollution has two major aspects.  First is the problem of dealing with readily identifiable point sources, that is, what comes out of pipes, such as industrial effluent, and the discharge from sewage treatment plants.  This problem is being addressed with some success, because it is easy to locate, regulate, and monitor the source of pollution.  The second aspect is the issue of non-point sources.  These are more diffuse, and harder to identify.  Examples might include storm runoff from city streets, which will include huge amounts of motor oil and anything else that has been dumped on the street (use your imagination), or runoff of silt from areas cleared for construction, farming, or logging.  These types of sources are harder to monitor and regulate, and now account for the majority of water pollution.  We are working on the problem of non-point source water pollution, but progress has been slow in many areas.  Some of the programs addressing this are mentioned below.

• Water Programs from the EPA's Region 9   focuses on the EPA's goal of "preventing, reducing and regulating contamination of surface and ground water. A watershed approach is used to provide protection for public health and water resources including lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, and wetlands."  California is part of Region 9, and there is a lot here on water pollution and water quality programs in the state.
• Surf  Your Watershed, from the EPA, is an amazing interactive site that will allow you to select a watershed and find out an incredible amount of information about water quality, water use, wetlands, and toxic sites, and generate your own map of selected watershed features, among other possibilities.
• The State Water Resources Control Board has the job of protecting California's waters against pollution, as well as ensuring their proper allocation.
• Beach and Bay Advisory, is a page from the San Diego County Department of Public Health, which lists beach closures due to contamination.
• Back in the old days, sewage was often discharged untreated into streams or into the ocean. As the human population grew, it became obvious that this was having a terrible effect on natural waterways.  Since the passage of the Clean Water Act and the various amendments to it, sewage treatment in the US has improved greatly.  If you have ever wondered how sewage is treated before discharge, here is an interesting Virtual Tour of a Wastewater Treatment Plant, from the Camarillo Sanitary District. This is very informative and well done, with photographs of various stages, and a nice garland of flowers at the bottom of each page.
• For more on wastewater, here is a descriptive Visit to a wastewater-treatment plant from the USGS.
• All About Wastewater, from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, covers treatment processes and other topics such as water recycling, and what is done with the solids. Here is a good flowchart of the treatment process.
• Protecting California's Water Resources By Managing Polluted Runoff is one of the programs of the State Water Resources Control Board.
• Find out about the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program, run by the Coastal Commission and the State WRCB. There is a lot on water pollution in general, and nonpoint source pollution in particular.
• California Underground Storage Tank Program promotes water quality through the prevention of leaking by underground storage tanks.
• The Bay Protection and Toxic Cleanup Program works to identify and clean up toxic sites in California's bays and estuaries.
• Find out about Water Recycling and Reuse: The Environmental Benefits from the EPA.
• Links to technical information on water quality at selected sites on California rivers.

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Solid Waste California's goal is to divert 50% of its solid waste from landfills by 2000.

• Solid  waste in this state is under the jurisdiction of the California Integrated Waste Management Board  They have a comprehensive set of programs aimed at reducing waste and promoting recycling and reuse.  A couple of examples are Project Recycle, which coordinates recycling at state buildings and facilities, the Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Program, and Buy Recycled Programs, which promotes recycling by creating markets for recycled material. Waste Prevention World is a page devoted to preventing waste by reducing materials and increasing efficiency.
• Recycling is the objective of the Department of Conservation, Division of Recycling, which primarily focuses on recycling of beverage containers, as required by the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.
• The Solid Waste Characterization Database is gathering information on the components of the waste stream.  You can find out what businesses dispose of what types of waste, which businesses dispose of the greatest amounts of waste, or you can search by type of material.  A database for residential waste is also being developed.
• California Waste Facilities, Sites, & Operations Database has information on solid waste facilities in the state.  The database contains information on "landfills, transfer stations, material recovery facilities, composting sites, transformation facilities, waste tire sites, and closed disposal sites" , with details on each site.   You can search by county, by type of facility, and by regulatory or operational status.

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Toxic and Hazardous Waste

• The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is a good place to start if you want to find out about toxic wastes in California.  Links to many other sources of information.
• Find Your Community, from the Environmental Defense Fund, lets you type in your zip code, and get a scorecard on how your county and community stand in terms of a number of hazardous pollutants. You will get general information on sources of pollution in the area, as well as on air pollutants, toxic chemical releases from manufacturers and other organizations (with rankings, amounts, and names and addresses), and agricultural pollutants.  You can also get access to a tremendous amount of other pollution information from this site.
• The Used Oil and Household Hazardous Waste Program of the State Integrated Waste Management Board looks for alternatives for the safe disposal of household hazardous waste and used motor oil.
• Toxics Homepage from the Sierra Club.
• Stringfellow Acid Pits Superfund site is one of the most complex of the Superfund sites.   Located in Pyrite Canyon in Riverside County, Stringfellow Acid Pits was an industrial waste disposal site which received a wide variety of pesticides, heavy metals and other toxic materials.  The wastes were placed in unlined pits on the site, and eventually contaminated soil, groundwater, and surface water. This page has the story of this site and the work being done on it, from the EPA.
• National Priorities List - Public Assistance Database   is a list of sites in EPA's Region 9 (which includes California) that have been listed or proposed for listing on Superfund's National Priority List of contaminated sites.  You can search for sites by state and county, and find information on each site.
• Solid and Hazardous Waste Programs of EPA's Region 9 is the place to go for information on this topic.  Links to specific sites, programs, and lots on remediation and other hazardous waste topics.
• See a list of names and addresses of California's Hazardous Waste Generators by county.
• To search medical databases for information on a particular toxic substance, access Internet Grateful Med V2.6.3.

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  Comments, Questions, or Suggestions? Email: J.R. Thorngren
(but I can't do calculations for you...or do your homework)

06/07/06

The grizzly bear is the state animal of  California, and is the bear on the California flag.  There are no grizzly bears in the wild in California today.   The last one in the state was killed in 1922, or possibly in 1924.