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22
Smoke Abatement.
We are represented on the Standing Conference of Co-operating
Bodies in the Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution and on the
London and Home Counties' Smoke Abatement Advisory Council.
Under plans approved by our Council we also make recordings
at representative parts of the area. We have lead peroxide gauges
at Redden Court, Rainham, North Ockendon, and Suttons Schools.
There is also at Rainham a deposit gauge (which gives information
of a much more comprehensive character than the lead peroxide
gauge) and at the Public Health Offices we maintain our Volumetric
SO 2 apparatus. Our results are submitted to the Atmospheric
Pollution Section of the Department for Scientific and Industrial
Research and are incorporated in the monthly bulletin issued to
co-operating bodies throughout the country.
It should be emphasised that investigations of this kind must,
to be of value, be of a long-term nature and apart from local considerations
are also of significance in helping to present a national
picture when interpreted co-incidentally with lines of enquiry carried
out by other authorities in varying parts of the country. It
would be a mistake to presume that because any particular area
might be developed industrially to only a very slight extent, there
therefore exists no atmospheric pollution problem. In our case we
are on the fringe of a highly industrialised belt and whatever we do
to prevent it, we cannot avoid pollution from outside areas (this to
say nothing of the pollution caused by our own domestic smoke).
What we can do, however, is to obtain some idea of how far our
district is affected through its position and how far the improvement
of conditions in other areas will influence our atmosphere. Present
indications suggest that results are as expected, but review over a
considerable period is necessary before any hard and fast deductions
could be drawn.
The accompanying graphs illustrate the relative positions
occupied by the various parts of the area. Rainham, as might be
anticipated, shows the least satisfactory results, almost inevitably
because of its position and of the nearby industrial development.
It is clearly most important that at the planning stage all
possible steps should be taken to ensure that industrial extension
does not coincide with a corresponding increase in gross pollution
of the atmosphere.