Kansas City Air Quality...

KC topics that don't fit anywhere else.
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beccanator
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Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by beccanator »

Kansas City may be ranked number one in the nation for drinking water quality, air quality, however, is another story. Here's an excerpt from yesterday's Star that provides some very brief insight on our air quality issues. Not mentioned: particulates, ozone, volatile organic compounds, the correlation between air pollution and the high incidence of asthma in our region, etc. Read on.

[quote]Environment concerns
“Show me lots of CO2â€
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Gladstoner
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by Gladstoner »

Emitting CO2 is important to me personally. I've heard that asphyxiation can be pretty uncomfortable.  :mrgreen:
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by nota »

A study released Tuesday gave Missouri the unenviable rank of ninth in the country for the largest increase in carbon dioxide emissions since 1960
Another reason to support trees and flowers and chirping birds.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by schugg »

I like aqua net hairspray, I spray it and spray it.  preferably with matches.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by Gladstoner »

Dry ice is cool when placed in water. Do it near the doorway when handing out candy on Halloween.
A fool and your money are soon united.
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ComandanteCero
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by ComandanteCero »

nota wrote: Another reason to support trees and flowers and chirping birds.
and stop auto dependent suburban sprawl
KC Region is all part of the same animal regardless of state and county lines.
Think on the Regional scale.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by GuyInLenexa »

I think that KS needs to start requiring auto emissions tests and annual auto inspections.  Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavanworth, and Miami account for the large amount of the metro's automobiles (and growing fast too).  The responsibility needs to b shared. 
Prevailing winds here seem to move to the east.  It should be addressed before it becomes a problem.  I have sent letters and emails to my state representatives as well as our Governor, never had a response of acknowledgement.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by Tosspot »

becca, since you've told me we have good water quality, i've stopped buying Ozarka at Quik Trip and now just drink from the tap -- chilled with ice, of course.
Image

photoblog. 

until further notice i will routinely point out spelling errors committed by any here whom i frequently do battle wit
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beccanator
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

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GuyInLenexa wrote: I think that KS needs to start requiring auto emissions tests and annual auto inspections.  Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavanworth, and Miami account for the large amount of the metro's automobiles (and growing fast too).  The responsibility needs to b shared. 
Prevailing winds here seem to move to the east.  It should be addressed before it becomes a problem.  I have sent letters and emails to my state representatives as well as our Governor, never had a response of acknowledgement.

Keep writing. Don't give up. Any additional pressure our politicians receive on these matters is extremely important. Aside from the personal responsibility we citizens have for maintaining the environmental quality of our region (the repercussions will be felt by all) our public officials possess just as much responsibility because they partically allocate the funds that make programs within our region that tackle air quality issues in the mode of enforcement, preventative measures and public education possible.

Ground-level ozone and other matter from air pollution has been linked to the high incidence of asthma and respiratory ailments in our region. Kansas City is in the top 10 of asthma hot-spots in the nation, there are over 80,000 new asthma cases in the metro area annually, and approximately $34 million dollars are spent each year threatening these respiratory issues. So, not only is this a health issue, but an economic one for our city as well. Poor air quality and relaxed regulations on automobiles (one of the main sources of our troubles) and industry only exacerbate the problem.
Tosspot wrote: becca, since you've told me we have good water quality, i've stopped buying Ozarka at Quik Trip and now just drink from the tap -- chilled with ice, of course.
well done, not only is our local water quality supposedly better than that of bottled water, but by drinking local water you are not supporting the draining of water table levels in other regions of the country/world. Also, the water you drink from the tap used less hydrocarbon energy to get to your glass than that bottled water.  :D That is, if you want to get technical.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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warwickland
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by warwickland »

ive got a sore throat from sampling today, just from standing along roads...even brookside was bad today.

ride bikes...take the bus...carpool...at least consider doing something.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by mean »

beccanator wrote: well done, not only is our local water quality supposedly better than that of bottled water, but by drinking local water you are not supporting the draining of water table levels in other regions of the country/world. Also, the water you drink from the tap used less hydrocarbon energy to get to your glass than that bottled water.  :D That is, if you want to get technical.
Depends on which bottled water. If you're getting it from a local soda bottler, it probably is the local tap water.  :)
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by warwickland »

Air Quality in KC is worse than St. Louis today by a good margin.

http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action= ... stateid=30
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beccanator
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by beccanator »

Congratulations Kansas City, today is your first OZONE ALERT day.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by warwickland »

once again, we have worse air than STL today. it never ceases to amaze me.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by nota »

warwickland wrote: once again, we have worse air than STL today. it never ceases to amaze me.
I hope we don't have to get those uncircumcised gas pumps like STL has.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by staubio »

So, how does our air rate in comparison to other cities.  Are there rankings of air quality for all metros?  Also, how do they determine the air quality numbers for a city if these readings are really specific to the locations they are taken?  I'm sure certain areas of the metro are worse than others and Beccanator has told me that prevailing winds and certain geographical features impact it as well.  How does it all work out and how are these variables controlled for metro comparisons?
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

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staubio wrote: So, how does our air rate in comparison to other cities.  Are there rankings of air quality for all metros?  Also, how do they determine the air quality numbers for a city if these readings are really specific to the locations they are taken?  I'm sure certain areas of the metro are worse than others and Beccanator has told me that prevailing winds and certain geographical features impact it as well.  How does it all work out and how are these variables controlled for metro comparisons?
exactly, im making an emotional blanket statement with what i said based on what MARC and airnow.gov publishes. but im trying to figure all that out right now. apparently the way different entities measure air quality varies a lot.

Using the Air Quality Index Scale that the EPA uses, we are worse than STL way more often than we should be, and the (EPA KC) monitoring stations (i think) arent even in the worst areas.

http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local

that is how i check metros across the country, and how they roughly stack up to kc daily. again, so many variables at play. for instance, omaha has a barely worse particulate reading for today, but who knows, the monitor could be on a truck stop...

how kc stacks up today to randomly selected metros (according to airnow.gov)

KC -  OZONE 45   
        PM2.5 54  (particulates)


STL - OZONE 39    
         PM2.5  40   

MPLS - OZONE 33    
            PM2.5 68 

INDY - OZONE 37    
           PM2.5 20 

ATL - OZONE 29    
          PM2.5 77 

LA - OZONE 17    
       PM2.5 59 

PDX (Portland) - OZONE 17   
         PM2.5 14 

CINCI - OZONE 32    
            PM2.5 37   

CLEVELAND - OZONE 30    
                    PM2.5 39


PHX - OZONE 50

WASH DC - OZONE 33   
                 PM2.5 47

JAX, FL - OZONE 46

---

for whatever reason, our air quality is worse than many cities today based only on this data.
Last edited by warwickland on Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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staubio
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by staubio »

warwickland wrote: exactly, im making an emotional blanket statement with what i said based on what MARC and airnow.gov publishes. but im trying to figure all that out right now. apparently the way different entities measure air quality varies a lot.

Using the Air Quality Index Scale that the EPA uses, we are worse than STL way more often than we should be, and the (EPA KC) monitoring stations (i think) arent even in the worst areas.

http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local

that is how i check metros across the country, and how they roughly stack up to kc daily. again, so many variables at play. for instance, omaha has a barely worse particulate reading for today, but who knows, the monitor could be on a truck stop...

how kc stacks up today to randomly selected metros (according to airnow.gov)

KC -  OZONE 45 
        PM2.5 54  (particulates)


STL - OZONE 39  
        PM2.5  40 

MPLS - OZONE 33  
            PM2.5 68 

INDY - OZONE 37  
          PM2.5 20 

ATL - OZONE 29  
          PM2.5 77 

LA - OZONE 17  
      PM2.5 59 

PDX (Portland) - OZONE 17   
        PM2.5 14 

CINCI - OZONE 32  
            PM2.5 37 

CLEVELAND - OZONE 30  
                    PM2.5 39


PHX - OZONE 50

WASH DC - OZONE 33 
                PM2.5 47

JAX, FL - OZONE 46

---

for whatever reason, our air quality is worse than many cities today based only on this data.

Thanks for the clarification.  I'll keep that in mind, but I think the comparisons are still useful.  I'm going to check out the other metros that I've spent a lot of time to see if my impressions match reality.
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by staubio »

Is it possible that New York City's air quality is dramatically better than ours?

New York City, NY       
OZONE      19      Good
PM2.5      17      Good
Kansas City, MO       
OZONE      45      Good
PM2.5      54      Moderate
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Re: Kansas City Air Quality...

Post by warwickland »

i think bad air from NYC gets syphoned into NJ...

i think they are just having good air quality today.
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