Local air quality management
Air Quality Monitoring
Liverpool has an established programme of pollution monitoring to respond to air pollution problems experienced at a local level by local people.
Liverpool City Council owns three automatic air quality monitoring stations, which take continuous readings of pollution levels. These readings together with the results of 'diffusion tube' surveys give vital information on current and predicted pollution levels. Local authorities must review and assess this information so that decisions can be made regarding pollution control.
The automatic monitoring stations are located at:
1. Islington Liverpool 3
2. Queens Drive Liverpool 4
3. Old Haymarket Liverpool 1
The air quality monitoring stations are undergoing a refit and changes will be announced soon.
The pollutants monitored at each of the automatic monitoring stations are:
- Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
- Nitric oxide (NO)
- Particulate matter (PM10) [ Queens Drive station only]
Each site is visited by a council officer twice a month to ensure that the monitoring equipment is taking correct measurements, and to change the pollutant filters in the equipment.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) also monitors air quality in Liverpool as part of a UK-wide network of air quality monitoring, using an automatic monitoring station in a residential area of Speke. This is classed as an urban background site, meaning that it is distanced from pollution sources and representative of citywide background concentrations.
The pollutants currently monitored at this site are:
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
- Nitric oxide (NO)
- Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
- Particulate matter (PM10)
- Ozone (O3)
Archived data and statistics for the pollutant levels monitored at this site can be found on the UK National Air Quality Information Archive.
Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tubes
To gain a better understanding of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations across the whole of Liverpool, measurements are taken on a monthly basis from a total of 67 NO2 diffusion tubes placed at roadside sites. Data from this diffusion tube survey can be considered alongside data from the automatic monitoring stations when considering NO2 pollution. This is useful because NO2 has been identified as a problem pollutant in a Review and Assessment [link to page] of air quality for Liverpool. Also, by monitoring at roadside sites, it is ensured that consideration is made of the potential Air Quality Strategy Objectives exceedences for NO2, which are linked to traffic pollution.