Improve Detroit’s Air Quality to Protect the Health of Urban Residents
Krystina Hird
Executive Summary
The dangerous levels of air pollution in Detroit, MI put residents’ livelihoods and health at risk. Hospital visits attributed to poor air quality cost Detroit residents $6.5 billion every year and air pollution disproportionately harms disadvantaged residents who are more likely to live near industrial zones and highways. This pollution also deters visitors and new residents from coming to the city which hurts the local economy. To improve air quality in downtown Detroit, policy makers need to protect green spaces, create robust zoning buffers, reduce idling, and create truck routes.
Key messages and recommendations
- The air quality of Detroit does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).
- The communities impacted the most by air pollution are working-class residents of color whose concerns are repeatedly overlooked.
- Detroit policy makers should take action to reduce vehicular pollution, a major source of air pollution.
- Policy makers should improve Detroit zoning laws to protect green spaces in the city and create buffer zones between industrial sites and residential housing.
Introduction
Detroit is a city full of rich history and culture and was once a booming industrial town. However, over time, many downtown neighborhoods were severely neglected by the city and continue to be overlooked. These neighborhoods are populated by working class people of color whose families were hurt the most during the manufacturing crash of the American Rust Belt. However, Detroit’s economy has been expanding in recent years. In the last decade the city has become a new hot spot for industrial manufacturing. As factories moved in, air pollution increased. Now those neighborhoods hit hardest by the loss of business in the economic crash are the ones hit hardest by health risks from industry coming back to downtown.
Major air pollutants in Detroit and the resulting impact on residents’ health
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy monitors air quality throughout the state and found Detroit does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This means the air in Detroit is more polluted than what the federal government has deemed safe levels.
Detroit is an industrial city and contains several major highway systems, including the highway spanning the US and Canadian border. Unsurprisingly, the main sources of air pollutants in the city are industrial coal combustion and vehicle pollution. The worst pollutants include sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and ozone (O₃), which do not meet the NAAQS, and high levels of fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).
This pollution has direct health consequences for the region. The poorest counties have the worst air pollution and the worst asthma rates in the state. Detroit has 3 times the number of asthma hospitalizations as the entire state of Michigan and is in the top 15 worst cities to live in with asthma. Exposure to air pollutants, like SO₂, O₃, PM₂.₅, and NO₂, result in over 10,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per year in Detroit and the surrounding area. DALYs express the number of healthy years a person loses to disease, disability, or premature death. Figure 1 shows SO₂ emissions are concentrated in downtown Detroit, the part of the city with the highest rates of asthma among children and adults in Michigan. The estimated annual health impact of air quality-related illness for the city is $6.5 billion. Every dollar that goes towards hospital bills is a dollar that does not enter the local economy. Air pollution is an economic issue, a health issue, and an environmental issue in Detroit.
Recommendations
Technical solutions, such as decreasing industrial and vehicular pollution, should be cost-effective and economical, avoiding large capital cost, maintenance fees, and shipping delays. Above all solutions should protect the health of Detroit’s downtown residents. To respond to the challenges of obtaining healthy air quality in downtown Detroit, especially for residences near industrial sites, Detroit policy makers should consider the following options:
- Develop a plan to designate current green spaces as protected from development and lay the groundwork for the creation of new green spaces in vacant and unused lots. Green spaces will introduce trees and plants to areas that otherwise lack vegetation. Plants are important in urban areas because they improve air quality through consumption of carbon dioxide and particulate matter in the air. Green spaces would not only improve air quality but would improve the scenery of downtown Detroit and provide spaces for residents and visitors to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
- Outline and strictly enforce buffer zones between residences and industry to prevent industry in the city from building near residential lots while protecting current residents from being forced to move out of their homes. However, residents interested in moving to help create these zones would be fairly financially compensated. Buffer zones would use dense vegetation to prevent air contaminates produced by industrial lots from reaching residential neighborhoods. These zones have the added benefit of doubling as noise barriers and would decrease eye sores for downtown residents.
- Increase penalties for activities that create commercial vehicle pollution. First, truck routes would be created to keep commercial traffic away from residential areas to improve air quality in these neighborhoods. Second, the Detroit idling ordinance would be better enforced by utilizing citizen watchdogs who would send in videos showing trucks violating the ordinance. This would also give downtown residents an actionable way to improve and invest in their community. A portion of the revenue from paid tickets would then go to the watchdog, and the rest would go towards the upkeep of the previously mentioned green spaces and buffers.
