Can I monitor air pollution?
Not easily - monitoring air pollution
is a complex scientific process. The measurements of
air pollutants disseminated on the
London Air Quality Network are generated by
specialist equipment which costs tens of thousands of pounds. This provides measurements which can reliably
be used to assess exposure, affect government policy and keep the public informed.
There are cheaper methods of measuring some of the gaseous pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, using
diffusion tubes. These cost only tens of pounds and can be kept in place for a few weeks and then sent
to a laboratory for analysis. These only provide an average concentration and are also less accurate
than the equipment used on the LAQN.
Monitoring
indoor air quality can be tricky, as there are many possible sources of pollution, and it can be hard to
know where and when to measure.
- Some community groups get involved in diffusion tube projects, a good example of which is
Doncasters "fresh air".
- Some London Boroughs do use diffusion tubes, for example
Ealing.