We’ve recently been awarded a grant of £74,281 from the Welsh Government’s Local Air Quality Management Support Fund to monitor air quality in Wrexham in an innovative and sustainable way.
The project aims to set up a network of 10 monitors that will look at PM (Particulate Matter) Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide alongside Environmental Noise which will support our ongoing work to use technologies to improve air quality and/or reduce exposure to particulates.
Previously expensive monitoring equipment has been used to monitor air quality in detail but we only have one such monitoring location which takes up a space the size of a shipping container. Other options we use include cheaper ambient diffusion tubes don’t give data in fine enough detail and can only be used to evaluate trends on the levels of pollutants in urban environments. The new monitors are easily placed and need only a minimum power supply such as a street light and give accurate information in real time on an hourly basis.
This project will look to work with the Smart Town scheme which will result in real time air quality data being available to the public who are them able to make informed decisions about active travel, travel routes, etc. Such information will also be useful to Council Departments in terms of siting public health campaigns, education into curriculum topics and planners as a preventable approach to address future issues or further protect open green spaces.
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Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Planning and Public Protection, said, “At the heart of many Welsh Government and Council policies is the health of people be it via a thriving economy allowing for a better quality of life or through an environment that promotes both physical and mental health and well being. It is hoped the provision of air quality data in real time on our website will allow the public to make an informed decision on their activities so they will act as both an educational tool and help us to make informed decisions on our activities.”
Further information on air quality can be found at www.airquality.gov.wales or on the Councils website at Air quality | Wrexham County Borough Council
* LoRaWAN is an acronym for a method of transferring small amounts of data over radio waves from a network of remote sensors to a collection hub. It has the advantage of being low power, long range, high capacity (as in the number of sensors that a hub can received data from) and secure data transmission.
The Council is investing in a growing network of LoRaWAN gateways to establish low-power wide area networking coverage across the city and industrial estate.
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