London vows to double its air monitors

Pollution-mapping cars, 100 stations will help fight 'public health emergency'

A network of air quality sensors is being set up around London to provide data in an effort to reduce air pollution and deal with a problem that has become a "public health emergency", according to the city's mayor.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan claimed the project, Breathe London, could provide a blueprint for other cities around the world.

Khan told BBC London: "After today, we are going to have the largest and most comprehensive air quality lenses and monitors of any city in the world.

"And it's really important for us to know what's going on - how bad is the nitrogen dioxide, the nitrogen oxide, the particulate matters - so we can then take action to clean up the air.

"We know there are thousands of premature deaths in London caused by the bad air quality. We now know there are adults with a range of illnesses from asthma to dementia to heart disease caused by the bad quality air, ... there are children with underdeveloped lungs, stunted lungs forever, because of the bad quality air."

The network of more than 100 fixed sensor pods has been installed in a partnership with Air Monitors, a specialist in the field, with the first devices having collected data since last November.

The pods are mounted on lampposts and buildings close to known air quality hot spots and sensitive locations such as schools and nurseries.

An interactive map

In addition, two Google Street View cars have begun to take readings every 30 meters at tens of thousands of locations around London.

The data will feed into an interactive map available on the Breathe London website, showing the condition of air in different parts of the city and supporting more accurate forecasting of pollution.

Khan launched the scheme at a primary school in Southwark, where 30 percent of the pupils have asthma, according to its head teacher.

Andrew May, the head teacher of Charlotte Sharman Primary School, which has one of the sensors installed, welcomed the project but said pollution needed solving "faster".

May said: "We are on a very busy road, we're very close to Elephant & Castle, there's been a lot of construction work around here recently.

"The increase in asthma in our pupils has been dramatic. The parents are increasingly angry and want to do more (to tackle pollution)."

Wood burning stoves, open fires and farms all face new restrictions as the government sets out what it calls a "world leading" plan to tackle air pollution.

In its Clean Air Strategy, published this week, the government promises to set a "bold new goal" to reduce particulates across much of the country by 2030.

NHS England says that almost 30 percent of preventable deaths in England are due to noncommunicable diseases specifically attributed to air pollution.

UK ministers argue that Brexit, the nation's exit from the European Union, will allow the UK to go much further on this issue than the EU and become the first major economy to adopt air quality goals based on WHO recommendations.

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily 01/19/2019 page7)