Meck's State of the Environment report online

Mecklenburg County staff have updated their biennial environmental report with a shorter, color-coded version that's now online.

Environmental changes, good or bad, typically unfold slowly over a period of years. That's what makes these reports, updated every two years, interesting. They report trends back to 1987.

This year's edition uses a matrix of green-yellow-red and directional arrows to summarize trends in air, land, waste and water quality. Details, with relevant links, are inside the body of the report, which will be updated as new data comes in.


Here's ozone air pollution: Improving but still often unhealthy.



Nature preserves: Lagging behind the county's land acquisition goals.




Streams: Too often contaminated by runoff and bacteria.



Lakes: Generally clean and holding their own.


It's worth a read by anyone interested in the air we breathe, the water we rely on and the land under us.