Our Environmental Protection team check
the borough for eight key pollutants which can affect
health in the long or short term. These are:
- nitrogen dioxide - associated with vehicle exhausts, combustion
processes and some industrial processes
- sulphur dioxide - mostly from the combustion of oil and solid
fuel, but also from diesel vehicles
- carbon monoxide - from vehicle exhausts and poorly operated
boiler plant particles
- very fine particles emitted from vehicle exhausts, combustion
processes and industrial sources. Usually referred to as 'PM10' -
particles less than 10 microns in diameter. A micron is a
thousandth of a millimetre.
- Benzene - an organic chemical emitted in exhausts and also
during refuelling.
- 1,3-Butadiene - another organic chemical emitted in exhausts
and also from some industrial processes
- lead - mostly from leaded petrol
- ozone
We carry out Updating and Screening Assessments (USA) for air
quality every 3 years. Air quality progress reports are also
carried out during this time.
Nitrogen dioxide air quality monitoring
We primarily monitor the air quality in West
Lancashire for nitrogen dioxide, which is one of the main
pollutants in the air that we breathe.
Nitrogen dioxide enters the atmosphere mainly
through traffic fumes and for this reason monitoring has been
targeted in areas where traffic flows are high or standing traffic
is predominant.
The Government has set a target limit of
40ug/m3 as an annual average for nitrogen dioxide
levels.
The method used to measure Nitrogen Dioxide
levels is through the use of diffusion tubes. These tubes work on
the principal of diffusion of high concentrations of pollutant at
the open end of the tube to low concentration at the closed end
where an absorbent chemical is located to collect the Nitrogen
Dioxide. The tubes are changed at monthly intervals and sent to a
laboratory for analysis and reporting of results.
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