This prompt requested we look at http://www.scorecard.org/ and https://www3.epa.gov/enviro/ to check the main pollutants in our area. I was curious to compare rural Santa Rosa (where I grew up) to metropolitan San Francisco (where I currently live):
It's not surprising that San Francisco County (SF) is ranked higher in toxicity than Sonoma County (SC), but I was surprised that the ranking systems don't directly compare. SF's ranking is based on reproductive toxicants while SC's is based on non-cancer toxicants which remind me of comparing apples to oranges.
That said as of 2002 SC's top polluters are F. Korbel & Bros Inc. and SF's top polluter is San Francisco Drydock Inc which is a shipbuilding company. These line up, since SC is known for its viticulture and SF is on the bay. Only 1% of SC houses are in the high risk of lead hazards, while 7% of SF houses are. They both had Superfund sites in 2002 - SC had Sola Optical US Inc (a producer of optical lenses that had contaminated drinking water) and SF's is Treasure Island Naval Station-Hunter's Point Annex. I do wonder if SC has more Superfund sites since the fires, but the data was not recent.
SC air quality ranked among the 30% worst in the country in 1999 and the water quality was bad too which is surprising since they never seemed bad to me growing up! SF's air quality ranked among the 10% worst in the country in 1999 and the water looked similar to SC's.
The two zipcodes fared poorly regarding environmental justice, but not in a newsworthy sense I think. SC seems to have less of a burden on people of color but again that data is old.
I love how you did the comparison between where you grow up and where you live now! That surprises me that Sonoma County was among the 30% worst in the country for Air Quality in 1999. I would have assumed because it isn't a big city, the air quality would be good. I would also be curious to see all of the numbers for the recent year in Sonoma County to see how much of a difference the fires had.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see that SF's water quality was bad also! I had always thought that SF had the best water coming from Hetch Hetchy. It had always tasted the best to me too, in comparison to other cities tap water.
ReplyDeleteIt would also be interesting to see the latest numbers for air quality and car pollution as the traffic in the city has increased dramatically over the past few years due to the tech boom
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