I wrote last week over at Green Daily about factory farms and the air and water pollution that they have the potential to create. But at least in Iowa, no one knows exactly what kinds and amounts of pollution are arising from these operations, which was incredibly frustrating to one citizen who happens to be a practicing nurse as well. If we cut funding for monitoring of air and water, we lose our ability to identify threats to our health. Whose job is it to do this monitoring? Citizens? Local universities (as the University of Iowa did in the case of citizens' concerns about factory farms)? The government?
I just googled "Air and water monitoring" to provide some links to useful sites with information for citizens on this topic. My article from last week was the second hit. It came before any state Department of Environmental Quality website. It came long before any EPA site.
So, what does this mean? Does it mean that not many people are out there searching "air and water quality," or does it mean that the sites that provide this information are hard to find? What do you think?
I did find this nifty and information site from the Canadian Ministry of Environment, titled Water and Air Monitoring and Reporting: Environmental Databases.
What's the best way to make this information available to citizens in a useful and accessible manner?
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