Three Ariz. counties rank among worst in man-made environmental hazards

PHOENIX — A new study shows some of Arizona’s counties have much to be desired when it comes to reducing man-made environmental hazards. It was the first-ever report ranking all 3,143 counties in the U.S. based on the prevalence of man-made environmental hazards, according to RealtyTrac.

The study took a look at five different man-made hazards including air quality; superfunds, which are areas that have been identified as having hazardous material; brownfields, which are areas of land that need to be investigated for the possibility of hazardous materials; polluters, which are industrial facilities that produce hazardous chemicals released into the environment; and drug labs, where hazardous materials may have been produced in the making of illicit drugs.

According to the report, Arizona had three counties crack the top 50 in the U.S. with the highest prevalence of these man-made hazards.

“Pinal was at number 10, Yuma County was at number 33, and then Maricopa was at number 37,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

Blomquist said part of reason those counties appeared in the top 50 is likely due to their high populations and they are therefore expected to have higher amounts of man-made environmental hazards.

“Certainly areas that are more populated are going to be more susceptible to man-made hazards,” Blomquist said. “All of the top 50, the average population was nearly 1 million, 850,000.”

KTAR’s Cooper Rummell also contributed to this report.

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