Detroit Environmental Pollutant Survey

The City of Detroit is working with the Community Data Health Initiative - a partnership between the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the African American Mayors Association - to understand community concerns on air pollution, extreme heat, and water quality.

An initial survey was distributed from January to March 2024 to collect feedback from a representative sample of residents. The survey presented insightful findings about our community’s perception of air, water, and heat in Detroit’s metropolitan area. Key outputs indicate the following:

• Air quality in the city received the lowest rating, with 42% of respondents giving a Good or Excellent rating.
• Similarly, respondents were most concerned about the effect of poor air quality on their personal health, with 75% reporting that they were at least somewhat concerned.
• Among respondents concerned about air quality, wearing a mask outdoors was the most commonly reported action taken (39%), followed by using air purifiers in their home (35%).
• Respondents most commonly reported believing that factories and other industrial sources are the main cause of air pollution in the city.
• Respondents reported being least concerned with excessive heat levels among the surveyed topics.

The survey responses can be found in the link to the right.
We would also like to hear from you about how you feel about the quality of air and water as well as heat levels in our City.