Pollution monitoring

London air quality monitoring

Tower Hamlets has three automatic continuous monitoring sites within the borough. These sites are operated and maintained by the London Air Quality Network (LAQN) and data is reported in real-time.
For detailed information and reporting of data from these sites please visit www.londonair.org.uk

In addition, the council also has 26 mini monitoring stations collecting data used to identify trends and hotspots, predict future pollutant levels, and monitor the success of the implementation of out air quality action plan.

Industrial processes

Some industries have potential to cause pollution. Since 1990 many of these processes have been regulated by either the Environment Agency or Local Authorities, depending on the size and type of the installation.

The locations of the three LAQN monitoring sites are as follows:

Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tubes

Monitoring using diffusion tubes is used in the borough to determine ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide. The borough has a total of 90 diffusion tubes located across the borough in a grid. The tube is acrylic and can be sealed at both ends. The one end of the tube contains stainless steel grids are coated with triethanolamine that adsorbs NO2 to produce a nitrate salt. The tubes are prepared and analysed according to methods by a UKAS accredited laboratory. The tube data provides average monthly concentrations within the area of the borough. This is then compared against the annual mean concentration for nitrogen dioxide. The following map indicates the location of the NO2 tubes.