Frequently asked questions

Why the need for air quality monitoring?

Air pollution levels have been monitored in the UK for over 100 years, however, it has really only been in the last 25 years that the technology has been available to measure air pollution on a real-time basis. There are several reasons why it so important to measure air pollution:

To ensure that long-term goals and targets to reduce levels of air pollution are being met (i.e. National and EU Air Quality Objectives)
To provide information to the general public as to how good or bad the air quality is in their locality (as provided by this website).
To be considered alongside planning applications for new roads, out-of-town shopping centres etc.

There are many ways of calculating the levels of air quality in an area - this can be done by estimating the rates of emissions from sources such as cars, housing estates and factories etc. However, in order to verify these calculations and get up-to-the-minute information on air quality, it is essential to measure air quality with sophisticated instrumentation such as that designed and supplied by the companies that appear in our links section.

Please click on a question below to see the answer on the left ...

When viewing a daily chart for a gas pollutant the values around midnight are always zero

What is the review and assessment process

What are the key air quality pollutants?

Has Swansea declared any Air Quality Management Areas ?

What does the Action Plan for Swansea contain ?

What does the inside of a monitoring station look like ?

Can I compare pollutants from different monitoring stations ?

What is air pollution?

What are the health effects associated with air pollution?

How can I help reduce levels of air pollution?

Why the need for air quality monitoring?

How do you measure air pollution?

What is the daily air quality index?

Pollution glossary: