Volunteers can still take part in Coventry's Community Pollution Project
Thursday 5 July 2012
A Coventry project to raise awareness of the effect of poor air pollution on health is being extended
Coventry residents were encouraged to take part in a city-wide scheme that began in January 2012.
A total of 22 residents placed a small, plastic pollution diffusion tube on the outside of their property such as on a drainpipe.
The first tube was fitted on the property by the project team but once a month the volunteer is asked to replace the tube and send the old one by freepost for analysis.
The Community Pollution Tube Project will last for 12 months although it is being extended to allow more people to take part. Organisers are particularly keen for asthma sufferers and those living on busy roads to join the scheme.
Rachel Field Environmental Protection Manager said: "In Coventry the main source of air pollution is road traffic.
"Nitrogen dioxide is a product of fuel combustion in vehicle engines and can make respiratory conditions worse. Government research has found that poor air quality can reduce your life expectancy, especially if you have a respiratory problem."
The first results show that from the 22 volunteers only one location has a higher result than expected. This location will continue to be monitored over 12 months to establish if it exceeds the European Air Quality Objective.
If it does, like others it will need to be included in the Council's Air Quality Action Plan - a document that will set out how the higher levels of air pollution across the city will be reduced.
Councillor Joe Clifford, Chair of Coventry's Smoke-free Alliance, said the project would expand and compliment existing work.
"The council already monitors air quality around the city with our monitoring equipment located in areas of congested traffic or high traffic flows," he said.
"The project enables the council to monitor air pollution in areas it would not normally consider, and shows how valuable local participation is."
Anyone wanting to take part in the Community Pollution Tube Project should telephone Rachel Field on 024 7683 1858 or email rachel.field@coventry.gov.uk.
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Note to Editors:
To view the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee visit: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmenvaud/229/229i.pdf
