Special to The Enterprise

Pity the poor folks in East Davis last winter! Recently, the Davis Natural Resources Commission heard the long-awaited results of last winterÕs wood smoke monitoring study in Davis. The study was intended to determine if there were areas in Davis in which excessive levels of wood smoke were accumulating due to either increased wood burning in the area, weather or regional air quality influences.

The Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District was responsible for carrying out the study with technical assistance from the California Air Resources Board. In its final report to the city, the air district reported the average airborne particulate matter concentrations measured from November 2009 through February 2010 at two temporary monitors installed on city property in East Davis and Central Davis. These results were then compared to the particulate matter concentrations measured at the CARB network of permanent air quality monitors installed west of Highway 113 on UC Davis property and on the outskirts of Vacaville and Woodland.

The results for East Davis were absolutely dismal. The average monthly particulate concentrations measured by the East Davis monitor were 80 to 100 percent greater than those measured by the other monitors in Davis and substantially higher than measured in Woodland and Vacaville.

Further, the East Davis monitor recorded 19 days in which particulate concentrations exceeded federal standards for fine particulate matter and were deemed to be Òunhealthy for sensitive groupsÓ (including senior citizens, children and others with respiratory or cardiac impairments). The other two permanent and temporary monitors in Davis recorded only two such days each.

In fact, the high number of days exceeding federal standards in East Davis is believed to be greater than the number of unhealthy air quality days reported for any other area in the entire Sacramento and Yolo County regions.

However, to opponents of wood burning in Davis, including this author, these results came as no surprise. We have been claiming for years that it is the localized neighborhood and nearest-neighbor impacts of wood smoke that are inadequately addressed by the air districtÕs current voluntary wood-burning restriction programs because they are based on air quality data in Yolo County that is more reflective of rural vs. urban conditions.

Davis Enterprise readers undoubtedly have been aware for several years of the swirling controversy surrounding the issue of wood smoke and its regulation in Davis. They probably also are aware that the current City Council majority Ñ Don Saylor, Stephen Souza and Ruth Asmundson Ñ has consistently opposed the imposition of any mandatory wood-burning restrictions in Davis despite the fact that they are now almost routinely imposed between 15 and 50 days each winter (depending on location) in most of Northern California.

And the most recent decision by the council majority to not act was made after they heard unequivocal support for such mandatory wood-burning restrictions by some of the most pre-eminent health organizations, atmospheric scientists and epidemiologists in the world. These included, among many others, the American Lung Association; Tony Wexler, director of the UC Davis Air Quality Institute and the San Joaquin Valley Aerosol Health Effects Task Force; Michael Lipsett, chief of the epidemiological branch of the California Department of Health; and Tom Cahill, director of the DELTA Group at UC Davis.

The council also heard from residents of East Davis complaining about wood smoke in that part of town, including one newcomer to Davis who said she moved to Davis after retirement to escape the pollution of Sacramento, only to find that the air quality here in the winter was worse than any she had previously experienced in the capital.

Instead of listening to these dire warnings, however, the council majority decided without any justification from any scientific or medical experts that they needed even more scientific proof of a specific problem in Davis before acting. Well, they have their proof in spades now. We can only guess how many of our seniors, children and those with respiratory impairments in Davis suffered last winter as a result of this abject failure by our leaders to act responsibly in the face of overwhelming evidence that wood smoke is a growing problem here in Davis.

The cityÕs National Resources Commission is considering the information in this new report and is charged with making a recommendation to the council. LetÕs hope the incoming council members are more responsible and protective of our respiratory health and finally take action to address this serious local public health problem.

Ñ Davis resident Alan Pryor is director of Yolo Clean Air, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving air quality for the benefit of environmentally sensitive individuals suffering from respiratory health problems, particularly children and senior citizens.

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