If you’re new to Maricopa, and many are (Maricopa ranked as the eighth-fastest growing city in the nation on a percentage basis from July 2020 to July 2021), you have learned to appreciate the quite nights. The laid back atmosphere and near ‘small town’ feel. If you have a family you likely love the fact that we have SO many schools to choose from and the crime rate is so much lower than neighboring cities. Along with all of that you realize REAL QUICK that this town isn’t like many other town. You wake up one morning, early, head outside and BOOM – what’s that smell?

Welcome to Maricopa – what’s that smell?

Yeah, it stinks. Typically it’s early morning but sometimes even in the early evening. It’s not EVERYDAY and, honestly, you get used to it after some time. But, in case you’re wondering, the smell has a pretty simple explanation…

So, in the late 1950s, the emergence of successful ranches and booming livestock businesses propelled all of Pinal County’s economic growth. After some issues with feedlot operations in Phoenix and Maricopa County, Pinal County offered opportunities for feedlots to relocate.  Today, there are 31 dairies and seven feedlots in Pinal County. Maricopa is home to one of the 4 major dairy cow complexes in the county.  The “Cowtown” complex is located between Maricopa and Casa Grande.  Cowtown spans miles and miles of land and is home to thousands and thousands of cows. 

Throughout the years, steps have been taken by the citizens of Maricopa to drive Cowtown out of the community.  Despite issues around air quality and water pollution, Cowtown and the other feedlots continue to operate.  There has been some discussion around the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designating Maricopa as a “non-attainment” area due to pollutants in the air that are associated with premature mortality and other serious health effects.  Research shows when the EPA designates sites as non-attainment areas, this can lead to a reduction in home values up to 50%.  In addition, this designation could make it difficult for regional growth and economic development.  This can really hurt a community who has seen phenomenal growth in a short amount of time.  Maricopa has grown from 1,040 people in 2000 to the estimated population of over 61,000 people today.   

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Aside from this stinky drawbacks, there are a lot of advantages to living in Maricopa.  With inexpensive housing prices, friendly neighbors, thriving educational system and potential for great economic growth and development, Maricopa is a very attractive community to live in for new and growing families.  These are among the many reason why people decide to move to Maricopa. 

Yes, Maricopa can be a really stinky place to live. Some days are better than others. For instance, the smell is often really bad after a good rain.  And in the winter, the stench comes out at night. As it gets cooler the steaming piles of cow crap sets off the odor.  On especially smelly days, one may even throw up in their mouth just a little (LOL).  After a few years, one would think I would get use to it.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Quite often when welcoming new neighbors the verbiage is: Welcome to Maricopa – hey, what’s that smell?

Throughout the years, many have thought of possible ways to combat this awful stench.  Maybe industrial strength air fresheners on every light-post could do the trick? Or Lysol stands throughout the city automatically squirting once every 30 minutes?  I don’t know what the future holds for Cowtown.  One could only dream that they would move far, far away.  But at this point there’s no resolution in sight.  But, how serious IS it?

Welcome to Maricopa – what’s that smell?

Air Quality

Marilyn Wyant, the director of health services for the Maricopa Unified School District, said she needs to wear a mask to travel around the City of Maricopa, or face suffering an asthma attack.

Wyant said its nine schools have followed a color-coded flag system to warn students, teachers and parents about the air quality on any given day, since around 2012 – as around 800 of the district’s 5,900 students were diagnosed with asthma.

“It’s become part of our everyday life,” she said.

Scary – Everyday life in Maricopa means living with what once was highest levels of particulate-matter pollution in the state (this actually fluctuates in real time – SEE HERE), according to an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency monitor data from 2000 to 2010. The city’s monitor averaged particulate matter levels 50 percent higher than the next-highest monitor, in Nogales, and from 2006 to 2009 Maricopa was well above the federal standard for such pollution. Now, it’s 2022 and Maricopa isn’t even in the top 10 TODAY (SEE REAL-TIME DATA HERE), but still, YIKES!

Now, the National Institutes of Health notes that assessing the health risks of odors is complex.

The entire Phoenix Valley is known to have high levels of “particulate matter”, or PM, and ground-level ozone pollution. In 2017, the area ranked as the fifth worst in the nation for ozone (ground) pollution. This included the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area.

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The city of Maricopa and Hidden Valley areas are no exception.

In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated a large part of Pinal County, including the city of Maricopa and Hidden Valley, as a “non-attainment area” for its air quality standards (we mentioned this above). These standards were changed by the EPA in 2005, making it harder to attain acceptable air quality levels. Arizona sued the EPA over these newer, more stringent standards. That suit was still pending as of April 2022.

How big is 2.5 microns? That’s about 30 times smaller than the size of one human hair.

Both Maricopa and Hidden Valley have PM monitors. Maricopa collects air concentration data on PM10 levels and Hidden Valley collects data on both PM10 and PM2.5 levels, says Mike Sundblom, air quality control director for Pinal County.

The Maricopa PM10 monitor is placed on top of Maricopa-Stanfield Justice Court. The Hidden Valley monitors are on Carefree Place at the intersection of State Routes 84 and 347.

Franquist says that only about 1,900 PM2.5 monitors exist in the entire country.

In Arizona, dust is the biggest challenge in reducing these particles. But it’s far from the only area or region to experience rising PM levels due to dust in ambient air. Many areas of southern and northern California have similar issues.

While the largest contributor to dust is unpaved roads, open, unplanted or fallow, dusty fields also contribute to high dust levels in the region, according to Franquist.

PM2.5 is largely made by combustion and is man-made. The sources of most PM2.5 are trucking, trains, burning coal for power and various diesel processes, according to Franquist.

Hidden Valley and Stanfield PM monitors still face challenges with the EPA standards for both PM10 and PM2.5, meaning those areas are still classified as non-attainment areas by the EPA.

Only recently has research discovered that very small PM particle sizes, three microns or less, can enter brain tissue.

In a working paper published in September by three Arizona State University researchers, a causal relationship was shown between exposure to high levels of these smaller particles and a higher risk for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The study is entitled, “Dazed and Confused: The Effect of Air Pollution on Dementia.”

Jonathan Ketchum, one of the study’s co-authors, says the economic cost of improving air quality more than pays off in the reduction of dementia cases and in improved quality of life. The first known study suggesting a causal relationship between air pollution and neuro-degeneration was a 2000 study from Mexico City. Researchers noticed dogs showing signs of dementia, including confusion, the inability to think clearly, disorientation or even losing the ability to recognize their owners, lived in a particularly polluted area of the city. After death, brain studies of these dogs showed more extensive deposits of the same protein-tangle “plaques” associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

The ASU study did not find how the particles enter brain tissue but concluded that inhaled particles play a part in the characteristic protein tangles in Alzheimer’s disease. The ASU researchers note that new studies are needed to determine how the particulate matter enters the brain. It is well known that inhaled particulate matter of less than 10 microns enters the bloodstream.

Welcome to Maricopa, what’s that smell?

So welcome, LOL. I know that’s a lot of scary information. So, is the air quality really oh so bad for us here in Maricopa? Well – yes & no, depending on the day. Also, evidence shows most of our pollution problem, here in Maricopa, is a widespread issue throughout the valley. So, it is what it is. Our small community is growing expeditiously, houses are going up every day. So let’s hope the smell is just that, an annoying smell.

Either way, welcome to Maricopa – now you know what that smell is.