South Central Los Angeles Air Quality Academy

The narrative of South Central LA is a rich fabric of resident stories interwoven with physical and socio-economic conditions of place. How residents experience air quality and the built environment in this neighborhood goes beyond simply what exists in the air. It includes how long a resident has to wait for a bus to arrive at a busy commercial intersection due to lack of transit service, and youth walking past multiple auto body shops to get to school. These stories describe truck idling, lack of trash service, and noise pollution. But they also portray strong community bonds, cultural centers and spaces of pride.

As such, the SCLA-PUSH team made story-telling and capturing qualitative conditions a central element of the data project in order to capture the current snapshot of what living in South Central LA is really like. Through the Air Quality Academy, community members not only learned about the impacts that air pollution has on their health and which prevalent polluters exist in their community, but they also identified community treasures, or spaces that they value and cherish, as well as community challenges.

Our StoryMap describes both the community’s stories as well as the results of the community data gathered through our Air Quality Academies on community air monitoring, traffic volume, incompatible land uses, and cumulative burden.

Each Academy focused on a different location but used the same steps/methods.

1. To document the community’s stories, Air Quality Ambassadors initially participated in Mapping Workshops during which they identified on maps the locations of community treasures and pollution hot spots that require more investigation.
2. Next, the Air Quality Ambassadors walked their neighborhoods, observed the surrounding environment and noted where potential sources of pollution exist, and measured air quality conditions using P-Trak monitors and AirBeams. 
3. To further refine their skills and data, Air Quality Ambassadors took to the streets again in Ground-truthing Workshops to locate potential hazardous uses and collect more data on additional environmental stressors such as cracked sidewalks, lack of green spaces, litter, etc. 

The synthesis of our quantitative and qualitative data helps us to clearly visualize the cumulative impacts experienced South Central LA.

We, the Air Quality Ambassadors and SCLU-PUSH team, identified South Park, churches, schools, murals, and cultural art as community treasures that needed to be preserved as historical and cultural identifiers of their community. These treasures are oftentimes overwhelmingly impacted by pollution burden because of nearby industries or heavy traffic highways.

We also mapped out places where the experience of environmental hazards affect community health and quality of life, including gas stations, auto body shops, dry cleaners, and oil drilling sites. We identified these pollution hot spots as priority areas to conduct ground-truthing and community air monitoring in order to investigate the root causes of the air pollution.

We identified the intersections and locations of Florence & Western, the Slauson Corridor, Vernon & AllenCo Corridor, and Jefferson & Adams.

Our teams of Air Quality Ambassadors then walked the census tracts of the areas mentioned above to ground-truth data, to capture physical, environmental, and air quality conditions during each of the four different Air Quality Academies. 

We developed a set of tools to capture quantitative and qualitative data that lifts up community wisdom and hones in on the multifaceted layers of knowledge derived from everyday experiences and direct observation.

Portable Air Monitors

We used AirBeams while walking our identified routes to measure levels of PM2.5 exposures at the neighborhood level. This device connects via Bluetooth with an Android  AirCasting  App to measure and report real-time fine particulate matter (PM) levels in parts per million(ppm).

The P-TRAK monitors helped us to visualize our emission exposures while walking down the street or while waiting at a bus stop. The P-Trak measures and records real-time ultrafine particulate matter concentration in particles per cubic centimeter (pt/cc). Ultrafine particulate matter is a marker for diesel emissions found commonly near heavy transit roads. When the data is downloaded it can show timestamps of when ultrafine PM concentrations were the highest, as well as what the average was throughout the air monitoring activity. 

To learn more about the various air monitoring equipment used in this project, click here  AirBeams  and  P-Traks .

Cumulative burdens—including pollution, social and economic data such as linguistic isolation, low-income, and educational attainment—can exacerbate existing health inequalities and shape broader health outcomes across a neighborhood.

The  CalEnviroScreen tool  was developed by the California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard (OEHHA) to classify all California census tracts by environmental conditions and population vulnerability and asses the cumulative burden on communities. Census tracts monitored during each Air Quality Academy measured in the top 15% of cumulatively burdened communities in California according to the CalEnviroScreen. This means after assessing exposures, environmental effects, sensitive populations and socioeconomic factors the tool calculated these neighborhoods as having a higher cumulative burden than 85% of all other census tracts in California.

We used the Assessing Environmental Factors Tool to observe and asses other environmental factors that surround mobile and stationary air pollution sources. The tool is a guide to help Air Quality Ambassadors to accurately record on paper direct observation data. Such data is a critical supplement to understand the diversity and types of environmental pollution. 

For first Air Quality Academy, we tapped into local knowledge to explore incompatible land uses around the intersection of Florence and Western in South Los Angeles and was hosted at Strategic Concepts in Organizing & Policy Education ( SCOPE ) headquarters.

To the left, you can see Air Quality Ambassador Guadalupe Rivas using the AirBeam and recording her observations as she walks the census track and surveys the community.

In the map below, you can see the routes we walked while recording PM2.5 on the AirBeam. The majority of the walk was green, indicating low PM2.5 pollution between 0 and 12 micrograms per cubic meter. The areas in yellow indicate a moderate health concern.

Look at the graph below to see the ultrafine particle concentrations recorded during the first Air Quality Academy in South LA. We walked together with the P-Trak along Normandie Avenue and stood at the intersection on Slauson. The spikes seen on the graph likely indicate diesel exhaust emissions.  

This session averaged around 30,000 pt/cc with spikes up to 500,000 pt/cc

Below is a chart describing concentrations of ultrafine particles expected in different spaces. For example, a clear beach day would show the lowest levels of ultrafine particles as opposed to a diesel freight truck.  

Air Quality Ambassador Sonja Taylor said "I learned a lot about pollution and air quality." She was inspired to keep learning about air quality and told us the "next step would be to monitor South Central with a program, we need it bad"

We divided key air quality stressors into categories of hazards: noises, smells, and visible fumes, litter, and physical hazards. Additional environmental concerns such as issues with dumping/trash, broken sidewalks, and green space concerns were also noted during these ground-truthing sessions.

• The main source of noise was along busy roads with heavy traffic flow from passing trucks. 
• In terms of smells, several of us noted burning metal and plastic smells emanating from recycling centers and auto shops. Auto shops were locations where visible fumes were persistent from idling engines and auto checks. Vehicle emissions accounted for much of the visible fume concerns as well as smells.
• Lastly, we identified specific areas where excessive trash could be seen on streets. Again, there were issues near auto shops such as tire debris in public spaces.  
• Along with air quality concerns, we were concerned about broken sidewalks and expressed their desires for more green spaces and trees in their neighborhood.

During the second Air Quality Academy, we decided to ground-truth the areas near the I-10 freeway and to monitor the air quality near an active oil site. The West Adams area is primarily residential, though it does have some commercial and industrial sites. 

The West Adams AQA took place on a rainy and cloudy day, giving us the opportunity to discuss how rain temporarily decreases air pollution levels. This is represented in the AirBeam data collected at this AQA, which was all recorded to be under 12 µg/m³.

After the first AQA, resident Ignacio was inspired to host a Purple Air monitor on his roof to monitor neighborhood particulate matter levels. Ignacio wants to "Educate the neighborhood about the pollutants in the air".

During our AQA 2 Ground-truthing walks, we found similar environmental stressors to those found in AQA 1. Noise concerns came from construction sites and areas near busy freeways. Similarly, we were concerned about persistent burning smells and gasoline fumes near auto shops. Issues such as broken sidewalks, litter, and lack of greenspaces (both parks and tree coverage) are particularly hazardous to health when located near sensitive sites such as community centers, schools, and parks. We were were particularly concerned about a preschool located along a busy road near Denker Street. 

The third Air Quality Academy was hosted at  Esperanza Community Housing  in the Jefferson Neighborhood. This area has a heavy transit road and a compact industrial presence. We discussed the need to ground-truth the area full of warehouses near homes, restaurants, and day care centers.

Of all the academies, the AQA3 found the most variety of PM2.5 concentrations. The routes are colored in green and yellow indicating fluctuation in air pollution on the same street. We took notes and observations of the details in our environment, such as high traffic volume, and to noted the areas with spikes in PM2.5 levels, as seen here.

The average level of ultrafine particle concentration was around 15,000 pt/cc, with a maximum peaking at 31,000, double the average. While this neighborhood had higher levels of PM2.5, it actually recorded the lowest ultrafine particle concentrations, compared to the other AQA's.

You can see in the chart below the concentrations of ultrafine particles expected in different spaces. For example, a clear beach day would show the lowest levels of ultrafine particles as opposed to a heavy transit road.  

We raised similar concerns and health hazards that were found in AQA 1 and 2. Visible fumes that were probably toxic came from passing vehicles as well as the occasional complaint of marijuana and cigarette smoke from parks. The foul smell of gasoline was attributed to auto/body shops and the traffic on nearby freeways. Other prominent issues were the lack of speed bumps and road protections on busy roads near community spaces and parks, and garbage disposal issues associated with nearby homeless populations (litter in parks and alleyways). A few of us also noted that fumes and bad odors would accumulate inside houses/apartments, which we know can be an asthma trigger. One mother who lived near the freeway told us that her child experiences frequent nosebleeds. In general, we cited the need for more air quality monitoring around gas stations, auto body shops, and industrial areas especially when these are around sensitive populations like senior housing, preschools, schools, and hospitals.

The last Air Quality Academy was hosted at the Old Watts Library in Watts. This area is mostly residential and with several small metal shops located near sensitive areas. 

Here you can zoom in to see the different levels of PM2.5 measured within the same area, recorded by different participants at different times. Click on a specific point to view data specific to that measurement.

The last Air Quality Academy in Watts had an average of 18,000pt/cc. In this graph, you can see spikes of high Ultrafine Particle emissions up to 500,000pt/cc. These were likely caused by passing trucks or buses.

Below is a chart describing concentrations of ultrafine particles expected in different spaces. For example, a clear beach day would show the lowest levels of ultrafine particles as opposed to a heavy transit road.  

We took what we learned from the training sessions to the streets for the ground-truthing and air monitoring activity. One Air Quality Ambassador felt "informed and excited to do something that will help improve air quality in Los Angeles."

For information on the Air Quality and Health Impacts, visit  USC Environmental Health Centers  . 

To document excessive odors, smoke, dust, or other air contaminants you can call the  South Coast Air Quality Management District  at 1- 800-CUT-SMOG (1-800-288-7664).

For information on real time Particulate Matter concentrations, check out the  PurpleAir map , that shows a worldwide air quality monitoring network.