Here’s how polluted SC is compared to other states as Earth Day nears, new ranking shows

South Carolinians can breathe a little easier on Earth Day this year with the knowledge that their state is one of the least polluted, according to a new report at least.

The annual Earth Day returns on Saturday as it has for more than 50 years. It’s an international celebration organized to promote and demonstrate environmental awareness. As such, QuoteWizard by LendingTree has released a new study that ranks the states in regards to pollution.

South Carolina ranking

So, how well does South Carolina stack up to the rest of the U.S.?

South Carolina ranks 10th among least polluted states. The report shows that the Palmetto State has “good” air quality for 87% of the days during the year. The state also had 0.0% of its population impacted by water pollution violations in 2022, the report states.

Hawaii took the top spot on the report for least polluted states. New Mexico was ranked the most polluted state.

Pollution report methodology

The report is based on a composite score of the percent of good air quality days and the percent of the population impacted by drinking water violations, according to America’s Health Rankings by the United Health Foundation. Analysts evaluated the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index measurements from 2022 to determine the percent of “good” days for each state.

To determine drinking water quality, the report used America’s Health Rankings 2021 data on drinking water violations.

Newer SC water pollution violations

The report does not take into account water pollution in South Carolina during 2023. State regulators revealed in March a list of water systems with “forever chemicals” that exceed a proposed new federal drinking water limit of 4 parts per trillion.

The forever-chemical levels in South Carolina were not substantially higher in drinking water than the the new proposed federal limit for the most part, the list shows. However, some of the water systems were significantly above the proposed limit.

Forever chemicals were developed in the 1940s for a variety of consumer products and some have since been found to be toxic if consumed regularly over a period of years.

10 most polluted U.S. states

Here are the 10 most polluted states, according to the report.

1. New Mexico
   
   
2. Oklahoma
   
   
3. Mississippi
   
   
4. Arizona
   
   
5. New Jersey
   
   
6. Texas
   
   
7. Louisiana
   
   
8. Alabama
   
   
9. Kansas
   
   
10. Wisconsin
    
    

This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

Patrick McCreless

The State

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Patrick McCreless is the Southeast service journalism editor for McClatchy, who leads and edits a team of six reporters in South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi. The team writes about trending news of the day and topics that help readers in their daily lives and better informs them about their communities. He attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama and grew up in Tuscaloosa, AL.