Canyon News Viewpoint: Our Approach to Reporting on Air, Water, and Soil Quality

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

Our goal is accuracy and transparency, which means sharing the findings of the environmental reports of government entities, universities, companies, and private citizens with clear attribution and links to those reports if available.

Thus far, we have provided summaries of water testing by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, air testing by South Coast Air Quality Management District, soil testing by USC Department of Earth Sciences, and air, soil, and dust testing at Canyon Elementary by TRC Solutions, Inc., which was paid for by Los Angeles Unified School District.

We are also planning an upcoming article about the Community Action Project LA (https://academics.lmu.edu/studyla/communityactionprojectla/), which is conducting swimming pool contaminant tests and also 1,200 soil tests (free to residents) of properties in and around the Palisades and Eaton fire zones. This effort is funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation and is conducted by researchers from Loyola Marymount, UCLA, and Purdue.

We don’t have the resources to hire a company to verify the findings of each report, but if we do learn that one is suspect, we will report that information too.

In addition, we seek to compare current test results with air, water, and soil quality reports that were conducted before the Jan. 7 fire. Unfortunately, pollution is part of the L.A. landscape, and car exhaust is a major culprit, so pollutants were present in the environment before flames erupted. When possible, we will include a pre-fire comparison or find an expert who can share how problematic a particular finding is, assuming that information has not already been provided within a report.

We welcome citizen testing, so email editor@the-canyon.org if you have a contaminant testing report to share or any recommendations to improve our coverage of this topic.

Our sole aim is to be a conduit of helpful information so that Canyon residents can better understand the quality of their air, water, and soil. We welcome your assistance in making sure we provide the most accurate and up-to-date coverage possible.