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Top Ten Most Polluted Cities


Guest Chappy
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Beyond DMD's work chair (no offense to the big guy, just saying a lot of hours are put into that thing) the only thing I'm surprised about is that two farming communities are in the top 10. Just didn't expect that.

 

 

Didn't expect Visalia but it is in a pretty deep valley with nearby mountains.

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yeah, that's the one that threw me off too...I know someone who lived there and he highly recommended me moving there...

 

now I'm definitely not...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 25 Cleanest Cities for Year-Round Particle Pollution (Annual PM2.5)

 

Rank Metropolitan Area

1 SANTA FE-ESPANOLA, NM

2 HONOLULU, HI

3 CHEYENNE, WY

4 GREAT FALLS, MT

5 FARMINGTON, NM

5 ANCHORAGE, AK

5 ALBUQUERQUE, NM

8 BISMARCK, ND

9 KENNEWICK-RICHLAND-PASCO, WA

10 LUBBOCK-LEVELLAND, TX

10 BILLINGS, MT

12 IDAHO FALLS-BLACKFOOT, ID

13 GRAND JUNCTION, CO

13 COLORADO SPRINGS, CO

15 BELLINGHAM, WA

16 RAPID CITY, SD

16 FARGO-WAHPETON, ND-MN

18 PUEBLO, CA

19 FORT COLLINS-LOVELAND, CO

20 SALEM, OR

21 DULUTH, MN-WI :wacko:

21 ALBANY-CORVALLIS-LEBANON, OR

23 SALINAS, CA

24 CAPE CORAL-FORT MYERS, FL

25 PORT ST. LUCIE-FORT PIERCE, FL

Edited by Randall
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I'm surprised they didn't bother mentioning the fact that the water table is likely pretty f'ed up as well in those farming communities. What with decades of heavy pesticide and chemical fertilizer use.

 

Funny you mention that. When I lived in the Silicon Valley area some years back I realized that I never saw any bugs. It was weird: no flies, mosquitoes, etc.... never had to swat at them. I mentioned it to someone at a dinner party as we were eating outside and he said because most of the valley had been agricultural use for many years, the soil and water were chock full of pesticides. Insects couldn't gain a foothold even though the valley had been pretty much paved over and become one big industrial park/suburbia.

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If Pittsburgh is really number two then we must have been way untouchable as the clear cut number 1 about 30 years ago. When our mills were humming along this place was way worse. Plus at that time about 125 public schools were still firing coal for heat. There has not been one that fired coal since 1987 and at that time it was the last one which was a hold out of almost ten years. If we have such bad air here then I am very conditioned to it as I really don't notice a thing today but turn that clock back 30 or 40 years ago and :wacko:.

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Funny you mention that. When I lived in the Silicon Valley area some years back I realized that I never saw any bugs. It was weird: no flies, mosquitoes, etc.... never had to swat at them. I mentioned it to someone at a dinner party as we were eating outside and he said because most of the valley had been agricultural use for many years, the soil and water were chock full of pesticides. Insects couldn't gain a foothold even though the valley had been pretty much paved over and become one big industrial park/suburbia.

 

Man, I don't know....if the soil and groundwater are that hammered where insects can't survive in a capped environment than there would almost surely be some direct, substantial, and significant risks to humans. Like regional/superfund/off limit to humans type of problems. In active agricultural areas I think the lack of critters is probably due to the actual airborne pesticides that farmers typically spray during spring time.

 

In the San Joaquin Valley, the groundwater has been utilized so heavily in the last 50+ years there is a lot of places where groundwater contamination isn't much of a concern because the water table has been pumped downward so dramatically in respect to ground surface. Of course that brings up other problems like man-made subsidence and long term farming sustainability.

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Top 25 Cleanest Cities for Year-Round Particle Pollution (Annual PM2.5)

 

Rank Metropolitan Area

1 SANTA FE-ESPANOLA, NM

2 HONOLULU, HI

3 CHEYENNE, WY

4 GREAT FALLS, MT

5 FARMINGTON, NM

5 ANCHORAGE, AK

5 ALBUQUERQUE, NM

8 BISMARCK, ND

9 KENNEWICK-RICHLAND-PASCO, WA

10 LUBBOCK-LEVELLAND, TX

10 BILLINGS, MT

12 IDAHO FALLS-BLACKFOOT, ID

13 GRAND JUNCTION, CO

13 COLORADO SPRINGS, CO

15 BELLINGHAM, WA

16 RAPID CITY, SD

16 FARGO-WAHPETON, ND-MN

18 PUEBLO, CA

19 FORT COLLINS-LOVELAND, CO

20 SALEM, OR

21 DULUTH, MN-WI :wacko:

21 ALBANY-CORVALLIS-LEBANON, OR

23 SALINAS, CA

24 CAPE CORAL-FORT MYERS, FL

25 PORT ST. LUCIE-FORT PIERCE, FL

 

:D

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Funny you mention that. When I lived in the Silicon Valley area some years back I realized that I never saw any bugs. It was weird: no flies, mosquitoes, etc.... never had to swat at them. I mentioned it to someone at a dinner party as we were eating outside and he said because most of the valley had been agricultural use for many years, the soil and water were chock full of pesticides. Insects couldn't gain a foothold even though the valley had been pretty much paved over and become one big industrial park/suburbia.

There's just no bugs out there because there's no bugs out there. It is super arid and the same is true all around the bay area. Even in places that have never seen much agriculture. It's just dry and bugs don't like it dry.

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If Pittsburgh is really number two then we must have been way untouchable as the clear cut number 1 about 30 years ago. When our mills were humming along this place was way worse. Plus at that time about 125 public schools were still firing coal for heat. There has not been one that fired coal since 1987 and at that time it was the last one which was a hold out of almost ten years. If we have such bad air here then I am very conditioned to it as I really don't notice a thing today but turn that clock back 30 or 40 years ago and :D.

It was really bad everywhere back then though. At least... based on what I've read. :wacko:

 

I read someone talking about how awful the haze was around Disneyland back in the day.

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If Pittsburgh is really number two then we must have been way untouchable as the clear cut number 1 about 30 years ago. When our mills were humming along this place was way worse. Plus at that time about 125 public schools were still firing coal for heat. There has not been one that fired coal since 1987 and at that time it was the last one which was a hold out of almost ten years. If we have such bad air here then I am very conditioned to it as I really don't notice a thing today but turn that clock back 30 or 40 years ago and :wacko:.

 

I agree Skippy. Pittsburgh during the 1930s-1970s was bad. In fact in the early years it wasn't at all uncommon to look like it was night time in the middle of the day. White collar workers had to bring two shirts to work so they could change as they got pretty filthy. I

I really thought Pittsburgh cleaned up its act since most of the steel mills are gone. #2 surprises the hell out of me.

Edited by jaxfactor
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There's just no bugs out there because there's no bugs out there. It is super arid and the same is true all around the bay area. Even in places that have never seen much agriculture. It's just dry and bugs don't like it dry.

 

Bull. You should see the gnarly spiders we have here in Colorado.

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Bull. You should see the gnarly spiders we have here in Colorado.

 

 

Yea...there are tons of critters in Montana and Wyoming. However, I don't think I ever saw a mosquito in the Apple Captial of the world...although I surely inhaled some pesticides growing up.

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Yeah Denver's pretty clean I guess, though there's still that smog and Commerce City is always a smelly scene.

 

Every time I drive through Commerce City, I think that I'm smelling the Springfield Tire Fire. Who decided to put a refinery right next to a pet food plant... and then direct airport traffic right by it?

 

Welcome to Denver, by the way... can you smell that?

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