Measure E1: Exceedances of Air Quality Standards

Percentage of children living in counties in which air quality standards were exceeded

E1

Monitor Values. County air quality violation summary data.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards

www.epa.gov/air/data/geosel.html. David Mintz, OAQPS, mintz.david@epa.gov

1993-2006

Daily or hourly

EPA OAQPS compiles air pollutant monitoring data submitted by state and local agencies into the Air Quality System. The Monitor Values report gives annual summary statistics for each monitor and criteria pollutant. For short term standards, summary statistics include the highest and second highest daily maxima, the number of daily values, and the number of exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). For long term standards, summary statistics include the annual mean (unweighted) and the number of exceedances of the NAAQS. We used the Monitor Report values for carbon monoxide, ozone, PM-10, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.
For the PM2.5 annual standard we used the county air quality violation summary data file from OAQPS. An exceedance is reported if at least one monitor in the county meets OAQPS data completeness requirements and has a weighted annual average greater than the PM2.5 annual NAAQS. The weighted annual average is the average of the four quarterly averages.
These two data sets are derived from daily and hourly monitored ambient concentrations of carbon monoxide, ozone, PM-10, PM-2.5, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

County FIPS code, Year, Number of exceedances of each NAAQS.

Counties that exceed the standards are not necessarily  non-attainment counties for the NAAQS. A non-attainment designation is generally based on three years of data, certain data completeness criteria, and, for short-term standards, requires multiple daily exceedances of the NAAQS.

Percentage of children living in counties in which air quality standards were exceeded

E1

Census Data for E1

U.S. Census Bureau

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/
dvs/popbridge/popbridge.htm,
www.census.gov/popest/archives/
1990s/CO-99-09.html, and www.factfinder.census.gov

1993-2006

Annually

“Estimates of the Population of Counties by Age and Sex: 1990-1999,” August 30, 2000. “Estimates of the July 1, 2000-July 1, 2006, United States resident population from the Vintage 2006 postcensal series by year, county, age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin,”  August 16, 2007. Population estimates from these files were summed by year and county across ages 0-17 to give populations of children by county and year.

For the Addendum tables that report values for this measure stratified by race/ethnicity and income for the year 2006, we used population estimates from the file “Estimates of the July 1, 2000-July 1, 2006, United States resident population from the Vintage 2006 postcensal series by year, county, age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin.” Population estimates from this file for 2006 were summed by race/ethnicity and county across ages 0-17 to give populations of children by race/ethnicity and county for 2006. The race/ethnicity groups were: White, Non-Hispanic; Black, Non-Hispanic; AIAN, Non-Hispanic; API, Non-Hispanic; Hispanic. For each race/ethnicity group and county, income distributions for 2000 were obtained using the SF4 Tables PCT141 “Ratio of Income in 1999 to Poverty Level” and PCT144 “Age by ratio of Income in 1999 to Poverty Level,” found at www.factfinder.gov. For each race/ethnicity group, income group, and county, children’s populations for 2006 were estimated by applying the income distributions for 2000 to the 2006 total children’s populations by county and race/ethnicity group. The income groups were defined by the Poverty Income Ratios: Below Poverty Level = 0 to 0.99, 100-200 % Poverty Level = 1 to 1.99, > 200 % Poverty Level = 2 and over.

State and County FIPS codes, Year, Age, Population, Race, Hispanic Origin, Poverty Income Ratio.

The Methods description provides more details on the population calculations for the income groups, including the estimation of missing income ratios due to non-disclosure requirements.