Dayton & Montgomery County Receive A D Grade For Air Quality And An A- For Drinking Water In New Environmental Report Card

An Environmental Livability Report Card for Dayton and Montgomery County released today by Environmental Defense and Ohio Citizen Action assigns the city an A- grade for drinking water quality, a B for water quality in nearby rivers and streams, and a D for air quality. The groups will release additional report cards on industrial pollution, contaminated site cleanup, transportation impacts, childhood lead poisoning, and open space/wildlife habitat in the coming months.

Issue	Grade	Explanation
Drinking Water	A-	The Dayton Water Department gets very high marks for ensuring clean drinking water, especially its Well Field Protection Program’s efforts to prevent groundwater contamination. However, one-third of county residents are served by smaller water systems that have a history of not meeting federal health standards.
Rivers and Streams	B	On the plus side, separated sewers in the county help to prevent untreated sewage from getting into local streams. However, 98 facilities are permitted to discharge pollutants directly into local streams, with 13of those classified as “major” facilities-a sizable number for any area.
Air Quality	D	Air quality just barely meets federal ozone standards today, and based on recent trends will likely fail to meet them within the next few years. Also, the county ranks among the worst 10% of US counties for added cancer and non-cancer risks due to hazardous air pollutants from automobiles as well as industrial sources.

“Montgomery County’s smog, mostly from automobiles and trucks, raise genuine concerns about the potential air quality impacts of the proposed I-892 outer beltway and changes to I-75,” said Jane Forrest Redfern, environmental projects director for Ohio Citizen Action. “More roads mean more cars, which means more smog that can cause asthma and other respiratory problems. Rather than building more roads, the city and county should be focusing on ways to reduce emissions by encouraging residents to drive less or use cleaner cars.”

“Dayton’s pioneering work to prevent contamination of its drinking water source is a model for other communities in the county and elsewhere,” said Carol Andress, economic development specialist for Environmental Defense. “Continuing this effort, and encouraging other, smaller systems to follow Dayton’s lead is vital to the area’s livability-once contaminated, groundwater is exceedingly difficult and costly to clean.”