Quick Guide to Indicators 

Ann Arbor's Environmental Goals	Environmental Indicators Click on an indicator for more information about what is being measured and how these indicators affect our environment.
Clean Air	Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emissions	Lead Emissions	Days of Unhealthy Air Quality	Ground Level Ozone	Sulfur Oxide (SOx) Emissions	Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions	Particulate Levels
Clean Water	Wastewater Treated	Water Use per Capita	WWTP Phosphorus Loadings	Drinking Water Quality	WWTP Total Suspended Solids (TSS)	Footing Drains Dis-connected	Impervious surface	Phosphorus Reductions  in the Huron River
Efficient Mobility	AATA (Bus)  Ridership	go!Pass Participation	Park & Ride  Lot Use	Bicycling Commutes	Walking Commutes	Single Occupancy Vehicle Trips	Car Pool Commute Trips
Health -Promoting Urban Environment	Parkland Acreage	Downtown Bike Parking Facilities	Miles of Bike Lanes	Density
Local Food Sufficiency	Greenbelt Land Preserved	Farmers Market Vendor Diversity	Public Garden Sites - Project Grow
Responsible Resource Use	Total Tons Composted	Percentage of Waste  Diverted	Total Tons Recycled	Total Waste Per Capita	Total Tons Landfilled
Safe Community	Inspected Detention Ponds	Approved Brownfield Projects	Remediated Sites	Lead Poisoning	Structures in the Floodplain
Stable Climate	Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Vehicle Miles Traveled	Electricity Use	Natural Gas Use
Sustainable Energy	Alternative Fuel Use	Renewable Electricity Generation
Viable Ecosystems	Total Natural Area Acreage	Urban Forest Age Structure	Ecological Diversity	Conservation of Rare Species	Creekshed Health	Invasive Species Management	Urban Tree Canopy	Urban Forest Diversity

Measuring Progress toward Our Environmental Goals

Each environmental goal has one or more primary indicators that we use to measure progress.  We recognize that each indicator may support several of the City's environmental goals, but we have chosen to show each indicator only once on this matrix and associate each goal with its primary indicators.

For each indicator, we have assessed where we think we are now, based on the information available.  We have assigned the color red, yellow, or green to indicate that we are currently in poor, fair, or good  condition, respectively, with regard to this indicator. Similarly, we have assigned an upward, downward, or level arrow to designate whether an indicator is getting better, getting worse, or stable.  For example, we looked at "Days of Unhealthy Air" based on the Air Quality Index (AQI).  Because we have relatively few "unhealthy" days, we colored the indicator green.  Because the number of unhealthy days has been decreasing over time, we used the upward directed arrow to show that the overall trend is improving. Some indicators have question marks because no data are available.

There are many different ways to measure our progress.  These indicators have been chosen because they demonstrate our:

• regulatory compliance (e.g., National Ambient Air Quality Standards);
• use of a resource (e.g., water and energy use); and/or
• community choices (e.g., recycling, greenbelt purchases)

It is likely that this set of indicators will change over time based on new information, your suggestions and our ability to measure progress in other areas.  

Click on any of the indicators names below for more information on that indicator's data and and analysis.

For more information on the creation of the report, report goals, and the role of the City in Environmental Management, read the Acknowledgements and History and Welcome from the Environmental Commission.

Last Updated February 2010