A first-of-its-kind program aims to track and ultimately improve California’s air.
The program, which was announced on Tuesday, relies on mobile monitors and an innovative public-private partnership.
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WATCH HERE“For years we've lived with toxic releases, unexplained, flaring odors,” said Daphney Saviotti Orozco with Rodeo Clean Air.
Saviotti Orozco described the conditions she's dealt with ever since she can remember. She grew up in Rodeo, next to a refinery and she believes she's been breathing in pollutants all her life.
“We're a small low-income working-class town with housing that's feet away from the refinery and people here are getting sick. In fact, asthma rate is between 93 and 95% time,” she said.
But soon Saviotti Orozco and her neighbors will learn exactly what they've been exposed to. Starting this summer, cars equipped with state of the art air mapping equipment will be rolling through town.
A company called Aclima is partnering with the California air resources board to send the air monitoring vehicles into 64 communities including Rodeo. They'll be mapping pollution block by block.
“I think it's critical that we understand what's in the air what we're breathing and what we do in response needs to be highly defined informed by data,” said Davida Herzl, Aclima CEO.
The pollution data gathered will help guide air quality improvement efforts in communities like Rodeo, Saviotti-Orozco hopes it'll lead to cleaner air for her family and her neighbors.
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SIGN UP “Children are growing up next to toxic exposure zones and I don't think that should be normal,” Saviotti Orozco said. “I think that knowledge is power and we don't really know what we're fighting against until we know what we're breathing this is a first step.”
