Attainment Status

The following table shows San Diego County's federal and state designations for each of the criteria pollutants:

¹  The federal 1-hour standard of 12 pphm was in effect from 1979 through June 15, 2005. The revoked standard is referenced here because it was employed for such a long period and because this benchmark is addressed in State Implementation Plans.

²  At the time of designation, if the available data does not support a designation of attainment or nonattainment, the area is designated as unclassifiable.

³  The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has not reclassified the region to attainment yet due to (1) incomplete data, and (2) the use of non-California Approved Samplers (CAS). While data collected does meet the requirements for designation of attainment with federal PM2.5 standards, the data completeness requirements for state PM2.5 standards substantially exceed federal requirements and mandates, and have historically not been feasible for most air districts to adhere to given local resources. SDAPCD has begun replacing most regional filter-based PM2.5 monitors as they reach the end of their useful life with continuous PM2.5 air monitors to ensure collected data meets stringent completeness requirements in the future. SDAPCD anticipates these new monitors will be approved as "CAS" monitors once CARB review the list of approved monitors, which has not been updated since 2013. 

What are the California and National air quality standards?
Links to specific Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and CARB webpages that maintain the current National and State air quality standards can be found here. (See links to "Federal Air Quality Standards" and "California Air Quality Standards") 

What is meant by attainment?
An area is designated in attainment when it is in compliance with the National and/or California Ambient Air Quality Standards. These standards are set by the EPA or CARB for the maximum level of a given air pollutant which can exist in the outdoor air without unacceptable effects on human health or the public welfare.

Why are there both state and federal standards?

Both the United States Government and the State of California have enacted legislation designed to improve air quality. The 1970 federal Clean Air Act covers the entire country. This law (and its amendments in 1977 and 1990) allows individual states to have stronger standards, but states cannot have weaker standards than those set for the entire country. California adopted its own stricter standards in its Clean Air Act of 1988.