Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Diffusion Tubes

Under the provisions of the 1995 Environmental Act, all local authorities in England and Wales are required to assess air quality against a set of national targets for seven key pollutants. Whilst most parts of Dudley Metropolitan Borough have been found to enjoy very good air quality, it has been found that at some locations, exclusively next to very busy roads, particularly at junctions and where there are inclines on the highway and buildings close to the kerb, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may exceed the national objective (annual mean objective of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre of air (40µg/m3)). Some of these locations are where members of the public might be regularly exposed to the poor air quality.

The Environmental Protection service of Dudley MBC has identified these specific locations and undertakes routine monitoring for concentrations of nitrogen dioxide at the locations. Diffusion tubes, which are small & inconspicuous devices for taking an air sample over a period of time are located on road signs, lamp posts & other suitable street furniture in residential, commercial and High Street locations.

A disadvantage of this type of monitoring is that it can only give information at the point of location, i.e. at that lamp post, drainpipe or road sign. To overcome this difficulty where levels of NO2 appear to be near to or above the 40µg/m3 objective several diffusion tubes are often grouped in the area to enable an average level to be calculated.

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