Reducing traffic congestion carries significant public health benefits because the amount of time spent in a vehicle is typically the most important factor in determining overall exposure to diesel exhaust particles, according to UCLA Institute of the Environment researchers.

But while scientists are making dramatic improvements in measuring exposure to a range of unhealthful air pollutants, Southern California scores poorly in efforts to reduce traffic congestion, the researchers say in the institute's seventh annual Southern California Environmental Report Card, issued Oct. 27.

In addition, the report card gave high marks to regulators for efforts to reduce pollution in municipal runoff, while the region fared poorly in attempts to prevent dumping on Indian reservations.

"This year, one inescapable conclusion emerges from the studies. As a region, we have yet to come to grips with the immense impacts our transportation system is having on the environment and public health," said Mary D. Nichols, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and former secretary of the California Resources Agency. "Whether it's the piles of used tires on Indian lands, or the pollutant-loaded road dust washing into the creeks and storm drains and out onto the beaches, or the exhaust that is assaulting our lungs as we sit in traffic with the windows rolled up and the air conditioner on, we can't seem to break out of the trap of dependence on petroleum-fueled vehicles."

The Southern California Environmental Report Card is the institute's signature publication. Each year, it draws on the expertise of UCLA faculty in various disciplines to analyze four issues of environmental concern and grade the performance of government agencies and others in protecting natural resources and public health. Its goal is to present scientific data in a format useful to the general public and to stimulate debate on policies intended to benefit environmental protection.

Here is a summary of the four chapters of the report card. The full report card is available on the institute's Web site at www.ioe.ucla.edu.

Air pollutant exposure

New methods of measuring exposure to airborne pollutants have yielded data that are increasing concerns about health risks, particularly those faced by children and other vulnerable populations, according to environmental health sciences professor Arthur M. Winer of the UCLA School of Public Health.

"Over the past two decades, a paradigm shift has occurred in exposure studies, moving us away from a reliance on a scattered network of outdoor air monitors measuring only a few pollutants, and towards the measurement of a much wider range of species in homes, schools, motor vehicles and work environments -- the places where people typically spend 90 percent of their time," Winer said. "As a result, we now understand that high concentrations of certain air pollutants in these microenvironments, plus the large amount of time that people spend there, can lead to much higher exposures than indicated by outdoor concentrations measured at distant sites."

Winer, who has contributed to several recent air pollution exposure assessment studies, reviewed the state of this relatively new field of research. Consistent with the severity of Southern California's air pollution problems, the region has one of the world's larger concentrations of researchers concerned with air quality, including various aspects of pollution exposure assessment.

One study conducted by Winer and other UCLA and UC Riverside researchers for the California Air Resources Board found that exhaust from school buses and other diesel-powered vehicles enters the passenger cabin, exposing children to elevated levels of unhealthful pollutants. Other studies found elevated levels of fine and ultrafine particles in the cabins of passenger cars on congested freeways, particularly those following diesel-powered trucks.

"The most dramatic evidence shows that the time someone spends in the microenvironment of their vehicle each day is typically the most important factor in his or her overall exposure to diesel particulate matter," Winer said. Moreover, people living close to freeways in the Los Angeles region face elevated levels of pollutants found in vehicle exhaust, according to a study cited by Winer.

Using "time-activity" diaries kept by research subjects -- and corresponding measurements in indoor, outdoor and in-vehicle environments -- scientists have developed models that allow them to estimate the doses of pollutants received by much larger populations.

Partly as a result of such air pollution exposure assessment research, the Legislature now prohibits school construction within 500 feet of a freeway, and the California Air Resources Board advises school districts on how to reduce the exposure of children who ride school buses.

Winer said the ultimate extension of this field of research is measurement of personal breathing space over a period of several days. To that end, scientists have devised a personal monitoring system that research subjects wear like a backpack. Inside the backpack is a battery-operated pump that pulls air through devices that measure pollutants in the air around the nose and mouth of the person wearing the backpack.

Winer assigned a grade of "B-plus" to exposure assessment researchers, noting significant advances in knowledge but that some nonconventional pollutants have not been adequately studied. He gave regulatory agencies a "B" for supporting this research and implementing initial exposure-reduction methods but said they could do more to implement specific policies to reduce indoor exposures to toxic air pollutants -- especially those not regulated by the Clean Air Act but identified by health-effects researchers as a concern.

Traffic

To reduce traffic congestion, the Los Angeles region should focus more on improving bus service than on building rail transit lines, according to two urban planning and transportation experts at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Similarly, toll roads and other forms of "congestion-pricing" likely carry more benefit than additional carpool lanes, said professors Randal Crane and Paul Ong.

However, Crane and Ong caution that there is "no silver bullet" because various strategies provide only partial solutions to a traffic congestion problem caused by multiple economic, demographic and social factors; therefore, policymakers should not pursue one solution at the expense of another.

Crane is associate director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and Ong is director of UCLA's Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. They noted that easing congestion is important to improving the region's air quality. "Pollution partly flows from congestion, since cars, trucks and buses are the primary sources of many air pollutants and gridlock exacerbates pollution by causing higher exhaust emissions than free-flowing freeways," they said.

In the last two decades, population in the Los Angeles region increased nearly 44 percent and "vehicle miles traveled" nearly doubled. But capacity didn't keep pace, with arterial and local lane miles increasing 20 percent, the professors said.

Building more lanes may ease congestion in the short run, but in the long run it "provides less congestion relief than one might expect," they said. That's because reduced congestion attracts drivers who previously used other routes or transportation modes or traveled at different times of day.

Crane and Ong suggest "congestion-pricing" is more cost-effective. For example, the toll lanes in the median of State Route 91 in Orange County charge drivers a different price based on the time of day and associated congestion. Travel times have dropped significantly in the free lanes as some traffic diverted to the new capacity, the professors said.

"This project demonstrates two important points: (1) In a highly congested corridor, people will pay to reduce their travel time, and (2) Even those who do not wish to pay are made better off by the toll facility when traffic is diverted from existing free lanes," they said.

Car pool lanes are less effective, according to the professors. "The average number of occupants per vehicle (about 1.2) is little more than it was 25 years ago, before the widespread introduction of HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes," Crane and Ong said. One strategy that holds promise, they said, is to open up carpool lanes to solo drivers who pay a fee. This policy has been implemented on Interstate 15 north of San Diego.

On the public transit front, Crane and Ong said, "unproven and expensive rail investments have been made at the expense of proven bus service" even though most areas of Los Angeles don't have the population density to support rail lines. "More sensibly, Los Angeles should enhance its bus service, including express buses, modernizing and expanding the bus fleet, improving the management of the numerous transit systems, and coordinating services across agencies."

In terms of land use and urban design, the professors said the region may benefit from implementing concepts known as smart growth or new urbanism -- generally, denser and more mixed-se urban development, especially focused around transit systems and stops, to lure people out of their cars. They note, however, that research "does not consistently support" claims of success and that higher densities could cause additional congestion. "Nonetheless, some project details hold promise, and may well deliver benefits in certain cases."

Their conclusion: "The lesson is that policy responses should be multifaceted because there is no monolithic monster to blame for our traffic ills."

They gave the region a "D" for investment in road capacity, a "C-minus" for investment in and management of transit, a "D-plus" for congestion pricing, and a "B-minus" for land use planning.

Stormwater regulation

State water quality regulators have taken strong steps to reduce polluted runoff reaching the ocean, said Sean B. Hecht, executive director of the Environmental Law Center at the UCLA School of Law. In response, some cities have begun innovative programs, while others are fighting requirements intended to ensure cleaner municipal stormwater, he noted.

"All in all, though, the region is poised to make great strides in improving the health of our waterways," Hecht said.

Each day, approximately 100 million gallons of municipal stormwater reach Santa Monica Bay; in rainy weather, the amount can reach 10 billion gallons per day, according to the institute's 1999 Southern California Environmental Report Card. This untreated runoff includes a variety of contaminants -- including animal droppings, lawn fertilizers, tire shavings and oil from roadways, and all manner of floating trash -- that can endanger public health and damage marine ecosystems.

Studies have found that swimming in Santa Monica Bay near storm drains increases the risk of acute health problems such as colds and gastrointestinal illnesses, Hecht noted. Moreover, the City of Los Angeles advises people to stay out of the water for at least 72 hours following rainstorms, and there have been multiple temporary beach closures in Southern California resulting from contaminants found in the water.

"The picture is improving dramatically, however," Hecht said. "Leadership by regulatory agencies, innovative efforts by some local governments, and the work of leaders in the environmental community bring hope for the future."

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board in 2001 adopted rules requiring all local governments in the county to take stronger steps to ensure that runoff from their areas is as clean as practicable before it makes its way to waterways leading to the ocean. Among these steps are regular inspection of commercial and industrial facilities to ensure that the companies are taking steps to prevent pollutants from entering the stormwater collection system, and, where water quality standards aren't being met, identifying and implementing "best management practices" to ensure that they are met.

These practices may include cleaning catch basins and installing devices to block trash from entering storm drains, preventing the disposal of motor oil or industrial chemicals into gutters or other surfaces that drain into storm sewers, and creating mechanisms to capture and treat storm runoff to allow its reuse for landscaping and other non-potable uses. Hecht emphasized that capturing and reusing runoff has the potential to reduce the region's reliance on imported water.

Hecht said the rules were innovative in that they went beyond previous regulations by requiring municipalities to take direct responsibility for many aspects of stormwater pollution prevention, including reduction of pollution from private sources within their boundaries.

A group of municipalities calling itself the Coalition for Practical Regulation has sued to block the new regulations, arguing that the costs to businesses and governments far outweigh the environmental benefits. The lawsuit is pending, but Hecht said the terms of the new regulations are "legally sound and appropriately protective of the environment."

"The resources these municipalities are diverting to fighting the new regulations could be used more constructively to develop and implement the programs necessary to comply with the requirements," Hecht said.

Some cities, including Los Angeles, have dropped their objections and are now working cooperatively with water quality regulators. Santa Monica is considered a leader in this cooperative effort, Hecht said.

In another promising sign for reducing pollution in runoff, Hecht said, federal and state regulators have begun requiring local governments to prepare cleanup plans for waterways with contaminants that exceed specified levels. The requirements, developed under the Total Maximum Daily Load program mandated by the Clean Water Act, result from the 1999 settlement of a lawsuit. The suit was brought against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies by the Natural Resources Defense Council on behalf of Heal the Bay, Santa Monica BayKeeper and other local environmental groups.

Some local governments are opposing certain program elements, arguing that they don't take into account the costs of carrying out required cleanup plans. Hecht expressed optimism that the program will survive legal challenges, saying it "represents a huge step forward in ensuring the future health of our beaches."

Hecht awarded the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board an "A" for "diligent efforts to develop, implement and defend" new regulations aimed at cleaning up municipal runoff. Local governments collectively received a "B-minus," with some embracing the new regulations and others fighting them.

Illegal dumping in Indian country

Southern California's 35 Native American reservations face an onslaught of illegal dumping and unauthorized landfill operations that present serious environmental hazards, yet "law and government have been wholly inadequate" to solve the problem, said law professor Carole Goldberg, who serves as faculty chair of the Native Nations Law and Policy Center at the UCLA School of Law.

For example, on the Pala reservation 40 miles northeast of San Diego, tribal members have found household garbage, appliances and waste from methamphetamine labs at a large illegal dumpsite beside a tributary of the San Luis Ray River, she said. Separately, a non-member operates a junkyard littered with as many as 1,000 non-operational vehicles on land leased from a tribal land allottee without required federal approval.

On the Torres-Martinez reservation southeast of Palm Springs, near Indio, the tribe is struggling with a stream of construction debris from off-reservation development and green waste from nearby golf courses. Developers in nearby cities hire disposal companies to pick up their waste, and these companies haul the waste to one of several landfills operated by non-members on land leased illegally from members who have been allotted land, Goldberg said.

Both the Pala and Torres-Martinez tribes have environmental protection units, she said, but neither has a police force or a functioning tribal court. Moreover, state and local agencies have little or no authority to regulate waste disposal on reservations, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies have been slow to respond, said Goldberg, an expert on Native American law.

"The laws pertaining to illegal dumping on reservations are so complex and deficient that reservations are perceived as a kind of legal no-man's land," she said. "Even where legal authority clearly exists, inadequate government support and infrastructure make enforcement unlikely or nonexistent." Goldberg founded the UCLA School of Law's Tribal Legal Development Clinic, which provides support services to tribes.

In grading the response to illegal dumping on reservations, Goldberg said, "The sprawling, noxious and highly unsightly dumpsites bespeak failure." However, she awarded a grade of "C," citing increased cooperation among tribes and local, state and federal governments, and increased funding for the development of tribal solid waste disposal codes and enforcement activities.

About the UCLA Institute of the Environment

Founded in 1997, the UCLA Institute of the Environment uses interdisciplinary research, teaching and public service programs to generate knowledge and propose solutions for pressing environmental challenges while educating the next generation of professional leadership committed to the health of the planet. It includes more than 70 faculty members from 10 academic divisions and professional schools, including public health, atmospheric sciences, business administration, law and urban planning.

About UCLA

California's largest university, UCLA enrolls approximately 38,000 students per year and offers degrees from the UCLA College and 11 professional schools in dozens of varied disciplines. UCLA consistently ranks among the top five universities and colleges nationwide in total research-and-development spending and receives more than $750 million a year in research contracts and federal and state grants. For every $1 state taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates almost $9 in economic activity, resulting in an annual $6 billion economic impact on the Greater Los Angeles region. The university's health care network treats 450,000 patients per year. UCLA employs more than 27,000 faculty and staff, and is home to five Nobel Prize recipients.