MyEnvironment

environmental information for my area

August 2009

The MyEnvironment search application is designed to provide a cross-section of environmental information based on the user's location.

The desired location is keyed in from the EPA Home Page (www.epa.gov) under the section called MyEnvironment.

The next page to appear contains the results of the search for that geography, e.g., Baltimore, MD. You can use a variety of locational search terms, such as zipcode, street address, county name, waterbody name, National Park name - or any placename that you might see on a roadmap.

The top part of the page contains a map with the EPA regulated facilities for that area. The search engine at the top right corner of the map allows you to narrow your search by selecting one of the following options: Industry; Air, Water and Land; or Programs. From there you can target specific industries, programs, etc (these sub-sections are explained further below). The bottom part of the page includes the following sections and sub-sections specific to the geographical location:

MyAir

• Air Quality Index for the US (AQI)
• UV Index- This reports the predicted UV light intensity for today
• Radon level maps
• Today's Ozone Forecast
• Today's Particulate Matter Forecast
• Another Ozone Map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

MyHealth

• EPA Cancer Risk for Air Toxics Estimates by County (Cancer Risk)
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Infant Mortality Rates by County (Mortality)
• HRSA Low Birth Weight Babies Rates by County (LBW)
• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Asthma by metropolitan statistical area (Asthma)
• CDC Lead by state and county (Lead)
• CDC Carbon Monoxide by metropolitan statistical area (CO)
• Toxic Releases and and hazardous waste sites (TOXMAP)

MyLand

• Superfund Information links
• Brownfields Information links
• Waste Program homepage
• Cleanups in my Community map

MyWater

• US Geological Survey Streamflow Levels data for stream gauges
• Water conditions for local waterbodies based on EPA Water Quality and Impaired Stream data
• EPA Local Drinking Water Provider information and Community Water System information from Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS)
• Monitoring Stations by Pollutant - The ability to identify monitoring stations in your neighborhood by the pollutants they measure - is coming soon.
• New/expiring facility permits in my area - this feature reports new and expiring permits (from EPA's Permit Compliance System database) given to facilities that emit pollutants to water in your neighborhood.
• Watershed - This feature shows your area's watershed and connects you to the EPA Surf Your Watershed  Web site which provides a variety of links to citizen-based groups at work in your watershed, water quality data, and more.
• Fish Advisories per area

MyEcological Conditions - this area displays reports that describe the state of ecological indicators in your area.

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Additionally, up in the right-hand corner of the map (above the map's legend) we offer a refined search capability. In the refined search box you can:

Select by pollutant which will yield a map with only those facilities emitting that pollutant, plus a federated search of materials pertinent to that pollutant, including:

• EPA Library Collection Search for mostly scientific documents and PDFs;
• EPA Substance Registry System Search for lots of pollutant-specific information including factsheets about health impacts;
• National Institute of Standards and Technology chemical breakdowns;
• EPA Web Site Search for any web pages pertaining to that pollutant;
• EPA Frequently Asked Questions Search for any FAQs pertaining to that pollutant; and
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Chemical Factsheets (if available).

Select by industry which will yield a map with only the facilities in that industry (e.g., manufacturing). Below the fold will show search results with web pages, factsheets, and references particular to that industry.

Select a New Place will let you key in a new location into the search box, which results in a wholesale refresh of the map and the below containers for information about air, water, land, etc. pertinent to that newly specified geography.

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Finally, there is a MyCollaboration area in the bottom right-hand corner of the search results page (this is not available from any refined search results page - only from a geographic search). MyCollaboration includes three means for communicating to EPA or the web community:

• Feedback Form is available for you to report back to the community your environmental concerns about the neighborhood. We will collect your comment and report it back out on the website for anyone else who navigates back to that community location. With this feature we hope to allow an exchange of concerns within neighborhoods. Eventually we will add a blog to this website that will operate as a forum where EPA can bring resources to the environmental concerns for a particular geography.
• Email is available to send comments back to the EPA developers of this Web site. We can field a wide range of questions that you may have, such as requests for additional resources, comments about the MyEnvironment application, or any other comments.
• Furthermore, since this application puts a strong focus on the regulated facilities that may operate in your community, we include a link to the official channel where the public can Report Violations.
• Finally, we offer a Shout-out section, which allows users to write about local efforts that promote environmental advancement in the community. The Shout-out section also allows others to become aware of these projects, and could encourage more grass-roots environmental projects.