METR 113
24 November 15
Assignment #4
SF Bay Area Air Pollution Risk Assessment
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is an agency responsible for air pollution control in the San Francisco Bay Area. The BAAQMD is devoted to improving air quality and public health to all Bay Area citizens. Communities in the SF Bay Area that have the highest health risk from air pollution are Concord, Eastern San Francisco, Western Alameda County, Redwood City/East Palo Alto, Richmond/San Pablo, and San Jose.
Several pollutant types and sources are harmful to health in the Bay Area. Toxic air contaminants (TAC) contribute to many short-term and long-term health effects including eye and throat irritation, neurological damage, development defects, and cancer (Martien, Lau, & Fairley, 2014). The Air District’s 2010 Clean Air Plan recognized ozone, PM2.5, and TAC as the greatest health burdens in the Bay Area. There are three major emission sources for TAC; permitted sources, on-road mobile sources, and distributed area sources. Permitted sources are large industrial sources such as refineries and power plants. On-road mobile sources are the vehicles that travel on roads or highways. Distributed area sources are off-road mobile sources such as ships and wood burning. Fine PM is …show more content…
Diesel PM was identified as the top contributor to cancer