Air Quality Monitoring in Babergh

Babergh monitors air quality using a number of different techniques and instruments. Some of these are very basic pieces of equipment which have been used for a long time, while others are state of the art equipment which use complex electronic systems and computer technology to provide up to the minute information on pollution levels. These include:

Automatic monitoring

The station consists of a sophisticated electronic analyser inside a permanent housing. Air is continuously pumped into the analyser and the level of the pollutant in the air recorded. The nitrogen dioxide levels are automatically stored by the analyser and the data sent via a modem to a central computer.

Diffusion tubes

These tubes are mounted on lamp posts or buildings to give pollution readings over a four week period. Babergh uses this method to measure levels of nitrogen dioxide at a number of locations throughout the district.

The accuracy of diffusion tube results can vary by as much as 30% and so they are generally used to identify pollution hot spots and long term trends. Pollution measurements from previous years can be found in the Council's Local Air Quality Management Reports, together with an interpretation of the results.