
Provisional data from the London Air Quality Network (LAQN) at King’s College London has shown that the Vauxhall Bondway Interchange has become the first place in London to breach objectives for 2020. This breach is for PM10 particulate.
This site has historically been classified as industrial due to its close proximity to an Underground vent. Although it was impacted last year by extensive construction work in the wider area this is no longer believed to be a significant contributing source.
UK objectives and EU limits stipulate a daily average PM10 concentration of 50 ug/m3 must not be exceeded for more than 35 days over the whole year. These limits came into force in 2010. The Vauxhall monitoring site measured its 36th day above the threshold on Thursday 20th February 2020. This site was the only site to breach for the daily PM objective in 2019 as well.
The first breach of objectives for London has usually been for nitrogen dioxide. From 2004 to 2017 the nitrogen dioxide objective was breached within the first week of each year. UK objectives and EU limits stipulate a maximum NO2 concentration of 200 ug/m3 must not be exceeded for more than 18 hours over the whole year. As we issue this PM10 notification the good news is that not a single hour over 200ug/m3 has been recorded anywhere on the LAQN so far in 2020.
The London Air Quality Network is run by King’s and is part of the university’s contribution to meeting the needs of London and Londoners. It is the most comprehensive urban monitoring network in Europe with detailed information on London’s pollution for more than 25 years.
Photo credit to Steven Usher