Imagine exposing 320 bus loads of children to unhealthy air for an entire summer. Put another way, nearly 27,000 children suffer from some form of respiratory problems due to poor air quality in Memphis, according to environmentaldefense.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public about environmental hazards.
The organization ranked Memphis 22nd out of 50 cities with the worst air quality in the country. The air quality ranking was derived from the number of code red, code purple and code orange air quality forecasts issued by environmental authorities from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The ranking takes into account both the ozone pollution and the particulate pollution in the area.
The major pollutants of air quality in the Shelby County area are acrolein and diesel emissions. These carcinogens are pumped into the air by the ton by mobile sources such as road vehicles, construction equipment, agricultural equipment and airplanes, as well as by local sources such as chemical plants, gas stations and dry cleaners.
According to Bill Smith, major source supervisor for the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department Office of Pollution Control, the majority of the air pollution in the area is due to commercial traffic that stems from Memphis being a major cross-country transportation hub. Some of the air quality issues also stem from contaminated air being blown in from Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.
"Our monitors show high levels of pollution in the air coming from Marion (Ark.), but because the EPA lumps Marion with the Memphis metro area, it negatively affects our air quality ratings," Smith said. "It's not necessarily fair to say Memphis residents are responsible for their air quality not reaching attainment standards."
However, in his five years with the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, improvements in air quality have been made, Smith said.
"There have been significant improvements, many of which the public never sees," Smith said.
The poor air quality in the area poses a number of health risks to the residents of the Memphis area. According to scorecard.org, a site that grades communities nation wide on their environmental standings, Shelby County is 870 times above the one-in-one-million cancer-risk goal set by the Clean Air Act.
Besides being cancerous, the poor air quality is the leading contributor to respiratory problems in the area, most notably asthma. Asthma has become the fastest growing chronic disease in the nation, afflicting more than 22 million Americans. It particularly affects children because of their size and developing lungs.
Gentry Young, a lifelong Memphis resident, has suffered from asthma since she can remember.
"It's really hard for me as an athlete because training is so much more difficult," she said.
During the summer, days with high ozone pollution levels are especially problematic for those who suffer from asthma.
"It's really frustrating sometimes because it feels like I am controlled by the weather," Young said.
Along with asthma, Memphis and Shelby County are also known as an allergy hotspot. The poor air quality combined with the type of climate changes typical of the Mid-South can wreak havoc on those with allergies.
According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, in the spring of 2006, Memphis ranked 41st out of the 100 worst cities for allergy sufferers to live. This is, however, an improvement as Memphis ranked 28th in 2004 and 24th in 2005.
Dr. Michael S. Blaiss, clinical professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, contributed to the recent study titled "Allergies in America: A Landmark Survey of Nasal Allergy Sufferers."
He found that over 30 million Americans suffer from some form of allergies.
"We don't know specifically the exact number of sufferers in the Mid-South," Blaiss said. "From what I've found, Memphis is really no worse or no better than other parts of the country when it comes to allergies."
Experts believe that mild winters being experienced throughout the country have caused allergy sufferers grief earlier in the season and for longer time periods than in years past. This is in part because the warmer winter temperatures are allowing plants to bud and release pollen, one of the major causes of environmental allergies, much earlier in the season.
Often the milder winters are accompanied by an increase in precipitation that also aids in the earlier growth of plants and grasses. The increase in precipitation is also a cause for increased indoor allergies.
"I am seeing more and more patients that are suffering from indoor allergies," Blaiss said.
Often times, homes will develop leaks, allowing water to seep in. Over time these wet spots cause mold growth that can lead to allergic reactions.
Though the air quality of the Memphis and Shelby County area leaves something to be desired, there is success in other realms of the environment. According to the 2005 Water Quality Report released by Memphis Light, Gas and Water, Memphis' drinking water is among the purest in the nation.
The report, issued annually by MLGW under mandate from the EPA, evaluates source water contaminates and the potential of the contaminates to affect the Memphis water supply.
In the 2005 report, even at its highest contaminated measurements, the Shelby County Water System scored well below the EPA's Maximum Contamination Levels in all tests.
Lauren Doubrava, a senior at The University of Memphis, used to take for granted Memphis' excellent water quality.
"I never realized how good Memphis water really was until I went to school in New Mexico. I had to put a filter on my faucet just so I could drink the water there," Doubrava said.
In order to keep the water quality levels high, MLGW is constantly monitoring changes and testing the water quality to ensure its excellence.
Along with excellent drinking water quality, the city of Memphis has caught on to the idea of recycling. According to Joy Williams, City of Memphis recycling coordinator, the city recycles 10,000 tons of waste annually that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.
Williams, who has been the recycling coordinator for five years, has seen improvements in that time.
"When I first started here, we were recycling about 7,000 tons each year and now that has increased to 10,000 tons each year," Williams said.
The City of Memphis Bureau of Solid Waste Management provides citizens with three different recycling programs. The most convenient recycling program is curbside recycling, which is provided to all single-family houses and multi-family houses of eight units or less. Any citizen within the service area can call and request a recycling bin if they do not have one.
The curbside recycling program takes care of nearly all recycling needs that citizens have. Residents are encouraged to put steel cans, aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, newspapers and magazines, as well as office paper and junk mail in their recycle bins for pick up. Plastic bottles are recyclable, too but only if the bottom or side of the bottle has a recycling symbol with a "1" or "2" on it.
For those residents who live in multi-unit apartment complexes or who do not live in an area serviced by the Bureau of Solid Waste Management, the city offers five recycling drop-off centers located strategically throughout the city.
According to the Bureau of Solid Waste Management, about 400,000 tons of solid waste are collected each year. Of that amount, about 30 percent of that waste is organic yard waste. Therefore, in order to better manage yard waste more efficiently, the city began an organic waste recycling program in 1995.
The yard waste is taken to the Earth Complex Compost Facility in southwest Memphis where it is allowed to compost into fertilizer or is ground into mulch. The Earth Complex Compost Facility earns money for the city by selling the soil and mulch to contractors, as well as providing it for city projects.
Cindy Black, West Tennessee consultant for the Tennessee Solid Waste Education Project, spends her time educating school children about reducing waste and recycling. Black's duties include scheduling free teacher in-service workshops and classroom presentations, as well as assisting local schools with environmental activities such as Earth Day programs.
"It all helps," Black said. "I do a lot of schools, and it gets people talking."
According to Black, Memphis has a great advantage with the curbside recycling.
"In many areas of Western Tennessee, people do not have anywhere to take their recycling," she said. "The curbside pickup is great."
