EPA Releases Updated Environmental and Public Health Indicators in Online Database

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated environmental and public health indicators in an online database, making information about the current and historical condition of the nation’s environment and human health more accessible to the public. This is an online update to EPA’s Report on the Environment. Users can explore 85 individual indicators-- on our air, water, land, human exposure, health and ecological condition-- using interactive graphs, tables, and maps, and download the data for each indicator.

The Report on the Environment facilitates tracking the state of the nation’s environment and human health over time. Indicators are developed using up-to-date information from EPA, other federal agencies, state agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The indicators are peer-reviewed to meet high standards for accuracy, representativeness, and reliability.

Examples of environmental and public health trends include:

• Nationwide, emissions of key air pollutants have decreased between 1990 and 2011. As a result, national average ambient air concentrations of the six criteria pollutants– carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide– decreased considerably.
• Total U.S. emissions of major greenhouse gases associated with human activities increased by 6 percent from 1990 to 2013, but have decreased by 9 percent from their 2005 levels. Electricity generation continues to be the largest source of these emissions.
• Between 2005 and 2012, the percentage of food with detectable pesticide residues has decreased. Also, poison control center reports show a 49 percent decrease in the rate of pesticide exposure incidents between 1998 and 2012.

Read more at the USEPA Newsroom.

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