Monitoring and Assessment of Air Quality
The Environment Act 1995 requires all local authorities to periodically review and assess the current air quality in their areas and predict the future quality of air against air quality objectives.
Objectives are prescribed in regulations. This process is called Local Air Quality Management (LAQM). Under LAQM a local authority must assess the following pollutants:1,3 – butadiene
Sulphur dioxide
Benzene
Lead
Carbon monoxide
Government guidance documents recommend that the air quality review and assessment should be a staged process. The first phase (Round 1) concluded that all pollutants would meet the air quality objectives, apart from the annual average standard for nitrogen dioxide. Round 1 resulted in the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area for traffic related nitrogen dioxide and the subsequent development of an
Action Plan.Details of the Council’s more recent air quality review and assessments are contained within the following reports:
Local air quality management has now moved into its second phase (Round 2). The first report from this stage is the:
Where is air quality monitored?
Two methods are used to monitor air quality in Edinburgh. Passive diffusion tubes are widely used across the city to monitor monthly averages of nitrogen dioxide levels. Real time analysers are used at a limited number of sites and continually monitor concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.