Santa Monica Airport

In response to concerns from residents living in the surrounding community of the Santa Monica Airport (SMO), pediatric residents training at the UCLA Medical Center involved in a Community Health and Advocacy Training project conducted this rapid HIA of the health impacts of SMO on the surrounding Santa Monica and Los Angeles communities. The HIA focused on the airport's health impacts related to air quality, noise and the lack of an airport buffer zone for the nearby schools, daycare centers, parks and residential homes. The HIA found that jet take-offs and landings are likely contributing to elevated levels of ultrafine particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the air, and that noise levels are above the Federal Aviation Airport (FAA) thresholds. The HIA made several recommendations including installing high efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filters in surrounding schools and residential homes to mitigate exposure to air pollution and implementing noise abatement strategies to enforce the FAA noise thresholds.