SMOG FILE : Where smog comes from

* 60% Mobile sources (Cars, trucks, buses, boats, planes, etc.)

* 40% Stationary sources (Power plants, factories, businesses, households. Consumer products are also included in this category.)

For Some, L.A. Spells Relief

“In an attempt to provide relief from the smog of Mexico City, the Japanese Embassy there periodically arranges for its employees to take a vacation in order to clear their lungs. Where do they send them? To Los Angeles.”

--From Only in L.A. column Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12, 1988

NOTE: The term “smog” is believed to have first been used by Los Angeles newspapers on Sept. 18, 1944.

L.A.’s Smoggiest Day

Los Angeles’ smoggiest day occurred on September 13, 1955, when ozone levels reached .85 parts per million in downtown Los Angeles and .90 ppm in Vernon. Air quality is considered hazardous at .40 ppm and a Stage 3 smog alert is called at .50. The highest recent recording in the basin occurred in Glendora in 1990 when ozone levels reached .33 ppm--which is three times higher than federal health standards allow.

The Road Test

One 20-year-old car belches 10 times as much pollution as a new car. But the gains in air quality from better smog controls are being undermined by the increasing number of cars on the road. In the last 20 years, the number of vehicles has increased 50% and the number of miles driven has jumped 65%. On top of that, California will have 35% more cars driving 47% more miles in 20 years.

Urban pollution from cars and trucks accounts for:

* 43% of hydrocarbons, * 57% of nitrogen oxides, * 82% of carbon monoxide

The Visibility Factor

State standards now require that there be 10 miles’ visibility with humidity less than 70%.

(AQMD predicts visibility will average 70 miles within 10 years.)

Top three cities with most violations of state’s visibility standard:

* Ontario: 265 days/year

* Burbank: 214 days/year

* Long Beach: 210 days/year

Ups and Downs for Mother Nature

* Three hundred trees can counterbalance the amount of air pollution one person produces in a lifetime.

* Air pollution in Mexico City is so bad that there have been reports of birds dying in flight and falling onto city streets.

* Britain’s first Clean Air Act came after the 1952 great “killer fog of London.” In five days, 4,000 people reportedly died from polluted air.

The Pollutant Factor

These cities topped the list in 1989 for maximum concentrations measured of each pollutant listed:

POLLUTANT CITY Ozone Glendora Carbon monoxide Lynwood Nitrogen dioxide Lynwood / Pasadena Sulfur dioxide Long Beach PM10 San Bernardino Lead Burbank Sulfate Pico Rivera

SOURCE: South Coast Air Quality Management District

The ‘Father of Smog’

* Long before there was “Haagen-Dazs,” there was “Haagen-Smog.” Back in 1950, the late Caltech bio-organic chemist, Arie J. Haagen-Smit, for the first time produced photochemical smog in a test tube. After his discovery, Haagen-Smit conducted a one-man campaign to promote cleaner air in the Los Angeles basin, often appearing on TV and radio to challenge public apathy and force industry and government to adopt smog-reducing measures. He served with a number of local, state and federal agencies, including the Air Resources Board in 1968.