Asthma rates spur air quality monitoring in Calif. county

A California governmental agency and non-profit organization are heading a $2 million project to monitor air quality in Imperial County, where asthma hospitalization rates have been the highest in the state for years, The Desert Sun reported.

Comite Civico del Valle, a health and social awareness non-profit, and the California Department of Public Health will spend the next four years monitoring airborne pollution and dust. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the project grew out of concern over pollution caused by local industry such as a hazardous-waste recycling center and cement processing plant.

The project will place 40 air-quality monitors across Imperial County. The 4,000 square-mile county already employs air monitors, though they present broad averages and offer little relevance to individual neighborhoods.