Air Pollution In Central Valley

Air Pollution

Imagine living in a smog, pollution free environment where the air was clean and skies were clear. Unfortunately, we do not have this luxury of that reality in the Central Valley. As many are aware, the Central Valley has a reputation of being one of the most polluted areas in California. With the air so polluted, it makes living in the Central Valley a little more difficult for everyone, whether it is realized or not. Although there are many reasons that cause the air to be polluted, the air in the Central Valley is polluted mainly because of the large manufacture infrastructures, semi/diesel trucks, fireplaces, and farming. Indeed, there are many reasons for air pollution, but let’s move on to the first reason.

All throughout the Central Valley, one thing that is a common sight is the numerous manufacture buildings. Thanks to manufacture buildings, mass amounts of goods are able to be produce in a faster amount of time. With these beneficial buildings, however, come cons as well. On

the not so bright side, manufacture/factory buildings release terrible toxins all over the Central Valley air. Pollution from the manufacture buildings consist of fossil fuels emissions. With carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all mixed together, these toxins are just enough to pollute the air in the valley. (“How Do Factories Pollute the Air”). Toxins such as the fossil fuel emissions are tossed into the air, which eventually make it’s not only throughout the valley, but into our bodied as well. Manufacture buildings are the heart and soul of the Center Valley and many people depend on those factories, but at what cost will they come at?
The Central Valley is known as the home of the lifted diesel trucks. If one is driving down the street, it is likely that he/she will see a lifted truck or semi-truck throwing smog into the air. Sadly, that is just how it is in the Central Valley. Yes, these are working trucks and the drivers need them to commute to work or transfer goods from point A to point B, but the pollution it tosses in the air is more harmful to the valley. Driving down the highway 99, it is a common sight to see big semi-trucks driving down the road, going from second shift to third shift and not caring or thinking about the pollution they are throwing into the air. Driving trucks like this will toss out emissions that consist of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides which later transfers into the secondary particulates. How about when they keep their trucks running and decide not to turn them off when they can. Every10 minutes the trucks or cars are off we can save one pound of carbon dioxide (“Diesel Engines and Public Health”).
The Central Valley is known for the nice warm summers and the cold wet winters.

During the cold seasons, fire places are running often and people are burning more firewood than ever. As known, fireplaces emit smoke and particulate matter into the air. Burning firewood can create environmental damage to our valley (“Wood Smoke and Your Health”). This greatly impacts the Central Valley’s air pollution problem, which is why many cities, if not all, have specific burn days. Burn days are implemented because of how bad the air pollution can get in the valley. Summers are right behind it because people love to cook outdoors on their fire pits. As with fire places, the smoke that is emitted into the air, which has the same effect. Between fireplaces, bonfires and grilling outdoors they play a major role in creating bad air pollution in the Central Valley. Now let’s move on to another main factor that plays a key role in effecting our air pollution in the Central

Valley.
This factor has a similar effect as firewood, but this is known as Fourth of July. Although the Fourth of July is often a fun and enjoyable day, many do not realize how much the smoke pollutes the air in the valley. When people shoot the fireworks off into the air they explode and release large amounts of particulates throughout the valley (“Fourth of July Fireworks Threaten Valley Air Quality”). During this special holiday fireworks dramatically increase air pollution in the Central Valley. On Fourth of July, the PM 2.5 pattern is typically at its highest point during the late stages of the night (“July Fourth fireworks cause spike in air pollution”). Every year the Valley sees a spike in the particulate pollution after the Fourth of July fireworks display. That will add to the already increased ozone levels in the Valley during the summer.
Lastly, believe it or not farming plays an important role on the air pollution in the Central Valley. Take a drive out on the country’s back roads and it will be a lot easier to understand. The heart of the Central Valley is the farming of Almond orchards. During harvest, it is the worst time around the whole valley because of the dust being created from the sweeper picking up the almonds. Almond contractors are always in the middle of everything because they try and keep the dust at a bear meaning. Our contractor is always asking us to flood before harvest to keep the dirt semi wet. Driving the tractors around the orchard also creates air pollution because the tractor is tossing out the smog from the exhaust pipe. Now, image thousands of those tractors all throughout the Central Valley doing the same thing. Also, while farming the ground farmers need to burn a lot of their dead trees throughout the season. So, burning their brush is another bad pollution in the Central Valley. It’s a lot easier to burn the trees then going ahead and shredding the brush.
The valley, and California already has one of the worst smog problems, so with the burning, an extra problem is added. Geographically, the valley is surrounded by mountains. Many people see it as the valley being in a “bowl” so to speak. In this “bowl,” polluted air from trucks, fireplaces, fireworks, and manufacturer buildings, farming, all play a huge role in this never-ending problem. Central Valley has had the worst smog problems in United States in the last 40 years (“Why Does California’s Central Valley Have Such Bad Air Pollution”) It has to do with a lot of key factors mentioned above.