Best air in S.A. or outside? (Houston, Dallas: real estate, allergens)

[LindaSarasota]

Hello friendly San Antonio forum,

I have learned that these places outside Austin: Blanco, Dripping Springs, and Wimberley are very clean. Out west Alpine and Marfa are cleanest. This was from a chemically sensitive lady in Austin.

Are there any Gulf War Illness support groups or Chemically Sensitive or Enviornmental Illness group contact info in San Antonio? I can't find a thing!

Can anyone help?

These groups know where the best air based on pesticides, agricultural, prevailing winds, exhaust, industry etc.

Thank you very much,
Linda

[LindaSarasota]

Please private message if you don't want to post.

Thank you,
Linda

[wCat]

Linda...I don't know of any specific group, but you might want to check out the local Sierra Club for references. I have some friends who have severe skin sensitivities and fight air quality problems almost everywhere they go.

Areas with prevailing winds seem to keep that "fishbowl" effect from building up, but can also blow in allergens from other areas. Obviously, heavily populated areas are going to be worse, but even rural areas can be problematic because of the crop dusting and chemicals to treat agriculture.

Generally...dry arid places seem to be best....like Southern Arizona....but the cost of living and price of real estate is outrageous for that very reason.

San Antonio/Austin areas are much better regarding air quality than Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.....but in the summer, long periods of heat can create higher Ozone levels here. That didn't use to happen much at all.....but the increase in population and development is giving way to worse air quality here. It's a trade off.....

Good luck in your search!...and please let us know if you find anything!

[LindaSarasota]

Hi wCat,

The Sierra Club is a good thought, I'll look into that.

And I will definately add to this thread when I find out which places are best. Maybe there is someone who will come by this thread in the know.

Thanks,
Linda

[Steel Man]

Here are a couple of web sites about Texas air quality:

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/texas_aqi (broken link)
http://www.airnow.gov/

[Torrey]

Originally Posted by LindaSarasota

Hello friendly San Antonio forum,

I have learned that these places outside Austin: Blanco, Dripping Springs, and Wimberley are very clean. Out west Alpine and Marfa are cleanest. This was from a chemically sensitive lady in Austin.

Are there any Gulf War Illness support groups or Chemically Sensitive or Enviornmental Illness group contact info in San Antonio? I can't find a thing!

Can anyone help?

These groups know where the best air based on pesticides, agricultural, prevailing winds, exhaust, industry etc.

Thank you very much,
Linda

For such a large city, San Antonio air is pretty clean. I don't like living here, for personal reasons, but I can say the air is good. You can't compare apples to oranges - places like Marfa and Alpine would OBVIOUSLY have better air, being not much but little towns hundreds of miles away from San Antonio.

[LindaSarasota]

Thanks Steel Man and Torrey.

I appreciate your input.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Steel Man

Here are a couple of web sites about Texas air quality:

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/texas_aqi (broken link)
http://www.airnow.gov/

Very interesting sites Steelman. Especially the 1st one. Interesting that the current measure for the state of Texas shows all in "good" air quality with San Antonio being the only "moderate" rating in the entire state. When looking further at the detail of Bexar County, it only has one place in San Antonio rating "moderate" and that at a measuring station #C1041. When clicking on the Bexar map to see where that is, I can't find that station.....but my guess is that it's near Mt St. Helotes! That one trouble spot is such a disaster!

I wonder how we can find out where that monitoring station is?

[Torrey]

I'll tell you, my friend George lived in El Paso a few years ago and they had high levels of pollution in the air there. It wasn't the people of El Paso however, it was the Mexicans across the border burning rubber tires and the smoke was floating over El Paso. The problem is, that the people of El Paso were getting penalized for it from the EPA.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by wCat

Very interesting sites Steelman. Especially the 1st one. Interesting that the current measure for the state of Texas shows all in "good" air quality with San Antonio being the only "moderate" rating in the entire state. When looking further at the detail of Bexar County, it only has one place in San Antonio rating "moderate" and that at a measuring station #C1041. When clicking on the Bexar map to see where that is, I can't find that station.....but my guess is that it's near Mt St. Helotes! That one trouble spot is such a disaster!

I wonder how we can find out where that monitoring station is?

TCEQ site C1041 is listed as a mobile site, but it doesn't look very "mobile" to me. Anyway, this site became operational on 9 Jan 07, so I would tend to agree with you about this being the Mt St. Helotes area. BTW: SAWS stopped supplying water to the site again last week due to contamination showing up again at nearby private residential wells. I say put these people on SAWS water system (at the county's expense) and put the fire out!