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Georgia Basin / Puget
Sound
International Airshed Strategy
and Inventory of
Air Quality Practices
London, December 1952, when an estimated
4,000 people died from a four-day smog event
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Background
Air pollution has been an important issue in Canada and the United States for over a century,
particularly since the rapid expansion of heavy industry and the automobile in the mid-1900s.
Demand by citizens for action at all levels of government have led to a series of laws
and other mechanisms to address air pollution concerns.
 background - Canadian air quality
background - U.S.A. air quality
background - transboundary air quality
background - GB/PS International Airshed Strategy
This section offers an overview-level summary of air quality history with an emphasis on western
Canada and the United States, and transboundary air pollution.
Air pollution has long been an issue, usually associated with the urban environment.
Notable early examples include:
- 900 BC, King Tukulti of Egypt comments on odours from an asphalt plant
in the town of Hit, near Babylon;
- 400 BC - Hippocrates associates air pollution with cities;
- 61 AD - Writing of Rome, Seneca notes that "as soon as I escaped the oppresive
atmosphere of the city, and from that awful odour of reeking kitchens, which when in use,
pour forth a ruinous mess of steam and soot, I perceived at once that my health was mended";
- 852 - London is known for its foul air and Edinburgh is called "Auld Reekie" due to the
smoke from chimneys;
- 1273 - the first smoke abatement law is enacted in London, noting that coal is
"prejudicial to health"; and,
- 1542 - Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo sails into Los Angeles Bay. After noticing how the smoke from
Native American fires on the shore rise and spread after reaching an elevated inversion, he names
it "The Bay of Smokes"
A list of the participating agencies
in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy is available.
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