Air quality to be measured at 100 Wiltshire sites by ‘citizen scientists’
Sensors will be used to measure pollutants that can increase health issues and damage the environment
An army of ‘citizen scientists’ is being recruited in Wiltshire to monitor air quality.
A new Wiltshire Community Air Network is preparing for launch with 100 air quality sensors, which will be installed in suspected air pollution hotspots around the county.
The sensors measure PM2.5 air pollution – small particles in the air that can increase the risk of health problems and be damaging to the environment.
The Community Air Network project is Wiltshire Council’s first step in gathering evidence on local PM2.5 concentrations.
Members of the public and organisations including schools and hospitals will be asked to mount a sensor outside their home or building.
The sensors – which are about the size of a mobile phone – need to be plugged into mains power and have access to a stable internet connection.
The council will be allocating sensors to each of the eighteen community areas of Wiltshire based on the size of the population, prioritising applications from schools, NHS medical settings, and supported housing facilities.
The data from the sensors will be publicly available online, so that people can see air pollution levels across Wiltshire in real time.
Gary Tomsett, environmental control & protection team manager at Wiltshire Council said: “Existing monitoring indicates that the air quality in Wiltshire is predominantly very good.
“However, there are a small number of locations where the combination of traffic, road layout, and physical features of an area result in pollutants being trapped so that concentrations increase to unacceptable levels.
“Historically two pollutants have been of concern in Wiltshire – nitrogen dioxide and PM10.
“There have been significant improvements in the levels of these pollutants and the council intend to start revoking some of the eight air quality management orders currently in place, where pollutant levels now comply with UK air quality standards.”
Those polluted roads include:
Mason’s lane, Bradford on Avon
New Road and London Road junction, Calne
Wadworth Corner, Devizes
Herd Street and Barn Street, Marlborough
Warminster Road, Westbury
The ring road, Salisbury
London Road, Salisbury
Wilton Road, Salisbury
He added: “Recent focus has shifted to air, pollution from very fine particulates as there is increasing evidence of damage to health and the environment, but it is not well understood at the local level.
“PM2.5 is not currently part of the UK Government’s Local Air Quality Management framework, so local authorities are not required to monitor and report PM2.5 levels.
“However, since 2016 the government has stated that it expects all local authorities to effectively use their powers to reduce PM2.5 emissions from the sources that are within their control.”
Professional-grade air quality monitoring equipment is expensive, costing tens of thousands of pounds to purchase and maintain.
The council currently has professional-grade air quality monitoring stations in Salisbury, Bradford-on-Avon, Marlborough, and Devizes.
The Wiltshire Community Air Network project is Wiltshire Council’s first step in developing an evidence base for PM2.5 concentrations in Wiltshire and building public understanding of PM2.5
The council says the new sources of evidence will be an important input in developing the next Air Quality Strategy, which will include a new focus on addressing PM2.5 challenges in Wiltshire, alongside efforts to keep reducing nitrogen dioxide and PM10.
The most common sources of PM2.5 particulates are vehicle emissions, industrial discharges, and biomass burning – including domestic wood burners.
The tiny particulates can get into the human bloodstream through the lungs, and are responsible for an estimated 29,000 deaths in the UK every year.