<p>Reposting from another thread, but it bears repeating here.
As a current student, I can tell you that we've had two days all year long when athletics were halted for air quality, and one of those was because of the wildfires.
The air may not be pure mountain air quality, but it's no worse than most places, and it doesn't impact the lives of almost any students.</p>
<p>My question is whether the school is taking the necessary precautions with the athletes. I know someone who works for the AQMD and I understand that they should have been off the fields a lot more than two days. The studies have shown that the lungs don't recover.</p>
<p>After I asked the initial question, I spoke at length with an expert on the subject and became even more concerned.</p>
<p>Honestly, no matter where you live (unless you go to a very rural college), there's going to be something that is affecting your health negatively. Unfortunately this is the world we live in. Claremont and the surrounding area has done a GREAT job at improving air quality and they continue to work on this.</p>
<p>I would say that if you have extreme asthma then maybe this isnt the place for you. However, even friends of mine here with asthma haven't ever complained... Sure there are days when the smog over the mountains look kind of gross but the smog problem is completely over-dramatized. As a athlete, I've had no problems. The Claremont Colleges are full of athletes, as most of the students here are incredibly active, and people very, very rarely complain.</p>
<p>According to AQMD data, the principal smog standard the Pomona-Walnut Valley area violates is the Ozone standard. There are 2 sets of standards, Federal and State, with the California standards being somewhat stricter. In 2007 there was 1 health advisory day in the Pomona-Walnut Valley region. There were 25 days in which the region violated the most strict state standard (.07 ppm in an 8 hr period). Of those 25 days, 16 occured in June - August, when students are not likely to be around. Of the remaining 9 days, 5 occured in May and 3 in September. Since end of classes is typically in mid-May, it is likely that most, if not all of the 5 days in May that violated the state standard were after students left.</p>
<p>So based on 2007 data from AQMD, perhaps 75% of the smog problems in Claremont happen during days when students aren't around. There are probably a number of other metro areas that have significant smog problems. In the summer of 2007 (June - September), for example, the Washington, DC area had 32 days with ozone rated unhealthy for sensitive groups and 3 days with ozone rated unhealthy for all.</p>
<p>I would prefer not to live year round for 20 years in the Pomona / Claremont area, but I don't think concerns about smog during the school year should be much of a concern, unless you are unusually sensitive to smog, particulary ozone levels.</p>
<p>"I know people who have grown up in the area (as in, in the San Gabriel Valley, which I believe Claremont is in) who have not suffered from any adverse health affects, despite spending their whole lives in the area."</p>
<p>Asthma is more common in children in the Los Angeles area than in other places.</p>
<p>The Asthma and Allergy Foundation publishes an annual survey of the 100 most challenging cities to live in for asthma, based on their assessment of 12 risk factors. They published their 2009 survey in January. Los Angeles as ranked #48 and Riverside #44. The rankings of other well known college areas:</p>
<p>Saint Louis #1 - the worst city for asthma sufferers
Philadelphia #12
New Haven #20
New York #21
Boston #30
Washington, DC #38</p>
<p>Clearly there are other metro areas with much less healthful air quality for asthma sufferers than Claremont / Pomona. I'm not sure you'll find much discussion about not going to Yale or Penn or Harvard or even WashU because the air quality is so terrible there.</p>
<p>The smog isn't a problem.</p>
<p>I came from an (extremely) rural area with close to no air pollution, and I don't notice it. </p>
<p>The smog used to be worse 20 years ago, and is apparently really only noticeable in June/July, when you probably won't be on campus anyway.</p>
<p>From Claremont, we drive out of the smog as we go towards Los Angles. We know it is bad for us, but we live here and don't have a choice but to hope it doesn't wipe out our lungs. Clean up the smog. That would be a good college project.</p>
<p>Just stay indoors when the smog gets bad.</p>
<p>The fog is NOT an issue here! I have literally never noticed it in my two years here. We can see the mountains clearly every day :)</p>
<p>There really is an air pollution problem in the Claremont area. You see the worst smog (particulate pollution) during the summer. But ozone is also a hazard, and you cannot see ozone. The American Lung Association gave the area an F for particulate air pollution and an F for ozone pollution on their annual report card. This link shows the number of days over the standards in 2007. [American</a> Lung Association: Air Pollution Facts & Air Quality Info - No Monitor Message - ALA State of the Air 2007](<a href=“http://lungaction.org/reports/sota07_county.html]American”>http://lungaction.org/reports/sota07_county.html)</p>
<p>But if you are concerned about air quality, you better check the air quality in whatever city you are considering. There are lots of cities with air pollution problems.</p>
<p>Sorry the link didn’t work quite right. Just enter the zip code for Pomona College—91711.</p>
<p>Selah- this site really isn’t accurate. I’ve typed in several of the Los Angeles beach cities’ zips, and they all come back the same. F. I know that’s not true. Even the air quaility in Palos Verdes, which is quite good, comes back an F on this site because it’s in LA county. It makes no sense. Not all areas of Los Angeles are the same.
There are other ways of looking at the air quality, such as weather sites, that might give a more accurate picture.</p>
<p>Except during a Santa Ana, beach air is indeed nearly perfect, but Claremont is in the middle of the worst air corridor, from downtown LA to San Bernardino.</p>
<p>a Santa Ana? wut’s that</p>
<p>That’s the hot wind that occasionally blows in from the desert, pushing the smog to the west and over the ocean.</p>
<p>Hopefully it won’t be too bad during Admit Day on April 20; I don’t want to be breathing in all of that crap!</p>
<p>You might be breathing in other stuff on 4/20, if you know what I mean haha</p>
<p>well yea there is smog from la because it is near a basin, which tends to trap it. However, you don’t sense it all. I’ve been there a couple times and it feels and smells like beautiful air even if it is killing you :(</p>