Politics & Government

How Bad is Foster City Pollution? See What New State Figures Say

State officials have released figures on every zip code in the state showing which communities are most at risk from pollution. See how Foster City and other Peninsula towns rank using the interactive map below.

How at risk are Foster City residents from pollution compared to other cities in the state? According to the state officials, the city is about average for a California town.

Based on new state figures released this month, Foster City is in the 51 to 55 percentile of California zip codes in terms of being at potential for health risks stemming from pollution of all sorts.

See a map of the data for every town in the state here

Find out what's happening in Foster Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The figures come from a new state report issued by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) that compiles health risks based on 11 types of pollution and factors in seven categories of population and demographic factors, including poverty and education levels.

The purpose of the report is to identify communities that are eligible for grants from the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to Sam Delson, an OEHHA spokesman. The law governing that fund mandates certain percentages be spent on disadvantaged communities, making it necessary to include economic factors in the state report.

Find out what's happening in Foster Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Unfortunately for Foster City, only cities that rank in the bottom 10 percent will qualify.

The state has a map of those communities that are eligible on the report website.

The map above shows scores from each of those categories as well as overall rankings for every zip code in California with a Patch publication. Simply click on any town to see the full report card for each zip code.

You can see a similar map showing every zip code in the state here, and see more details of the report on the state's website.

In general, Foster City fares poorly on traffic metrics as well as in the low birth weight category. The town did well in education metrics and on certain air quality metrics such as ozone pollution.

 

See More On Patch

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  • You Won't Believe What People are Paying for Rent in Foster City
  • Foster City's Unemployment Rate Drops Again
  • Find a Summer Camp on the Peninsula


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