CDC 24/7 - Protecting People - California's Success

Preventing Exposures to Nitrates in Drinking Water

What is the problem?

Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can lead to serious illness in infants. Also, exposure to nitrates has been associated with certain cancers and adverse reproductive outcomes, including various birth defects. In California, some communities are at higher risk for having nitrate contamination in their drinking water. Because there was no statewide digital map of the areas served by drinking water systems, identifying communities at higher risk for nitrate exposure has been difficult. Moreover, the state had no central location for gathering this information.

What did Tracking do?

The California Tracking Program created a Web-based tool to help water systems create digital maps of the areas they serve. Prior to this effort, many systems only had paper maps. The tracking program’s water tool has received information for public water systems that serve almost 90% of the state’s total population. With this information, users can also identify communities that may be using unregulated private wells, which are also at high risk for nitrate contamination.

Improved public health

The University of California at Davis, on behalf of the state Water Resources Control Board, used data from the water tool and other sources in a report to the state legislature. The report identified communities most exposed to nitrate contamination in drinking water and proposed potential remediation solutions. Findings and recommendations in the report have led to prevention, monitoring, training, and funding activities in high risk areas.

Identifying Exposures to Air Pollution from Traffic

What is the problem?

Air pollution from traffic is associated with a variety of health problems. Researchers and public health workers use data on traffic to estimate air pollution and to look at the relationship between traffic pollution and health. However, traffic data can be difficult to access and use.

What did Tracking do?

The California Tracking Program developed a traffic tool to make it easier to access and use CalTrans traffic data for public health activities. People can use the tool to calculate a range of traffic features, such as the average number of vehicles traveling near a location per day. Users of the tool can find out how much traffic passes through any geography, such as a zip code, neighborhood, or another custom area around a specific address. Researchers can compare data from the traffic tool with health data from the CA Tracking Network or other sources to understand better the possible links between air pollution and health.

Improved public health

Several agencies have used the traffic tool to protect and improve public health. For example, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District uses the traffic tool to determine if a proposed project will increase risks of exposure to traffic pollutants. And the CA Environmental Protection Agency used the traffic tool to identify locations more likely to be exposed to pollution from traffic. The agency added this information to its screening tool which identifies communities likely to be affected most by environmental exposures and poor health.

Using a traffic tool in San Francisco city planning

What is the problem?

The San Francisco Planning Department needed a way to decide when to refer project sponsors or developers to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The health department assesses the risk associated with exposure to roadway-related air pollutants, such as ozone, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide. These air pollutants can be triggers for asthma.

What did Tracking do?

The California Environmental Health Tracking Program developed a traffic tool that the Planning Department used as a screening instrument. The tool helped the Planning Department determine how close high-traffic roads were to a proposed project development. When residential or other sensitive uses such as a community space are proposed for sites within 500 feet of roads that more than 100,000 cars travel on daily, the Planning Department is required to perform a risk assessment to fully understand the potential effects of the project before approving it.

Improved public health

Local stakeholders used the California Tracking Program’s traffic tool to identify and prevent potentially harmful environmental risks in city planning.

Improving community access to useful information

What is the problem?

Variations in health status most frequently occur at the community level, but health information often is available only at the county level. The challenge is how to use existing data to increase the public’s knowledge about how the environment affects their community’s health, without compromising individual privacy. The affected communities should be able to gain access to this information.

What did Tracking do?

The California Tracking Network used special analytic and mapping techniques to locate areas in Alameda County with:

• high rates of preterm birth.
• high rates of full term births with low birth weight.
• a range of asthma indicators.

The staff explored possible relationships between these outcomes and environmental hazards. The project demonstrated how the California Tracking Network can identify elevated rates of community health outcomes while maintaining individual confidentiality. The California Tracking Network also identified disparities in rates by race and ethnicity, income, and geography.

Improved public health

The California Tracking Program partnered with the Urban Strategies Council and several other organizations in a community collaborative called InfoAlameda-County (www.infoalamedacounty.org). The collaboration aimed to make these data available publicly and to provide technical assistance to promote equity and empowerment for low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in Alameda County. The information generated by the tracking network was incorporated into the InfoAlamedaCounty.org interactive mapping Web site so that community residents could continue to access the data even after the project ended.