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41.
ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
Perhaps the most significant feature of this part of the Annual Report,
apart from the very encouraging progress being made with regard to the Smoke
Control Area Programme, is that which refers to measures taken by the Public
Health Inspectors in an effort to reduce air pollution emitted from motor
vehicles.
Success has been greater than we had dared to hope for at the beginning
of the year. Letters have been sent to the owners of vehicles observed to
be emitting an undue amount of smoke, drawing their attention to the matter
and suggesting the resultant pollution may be due to faulty maintenance and
operation of the vehicle. 244 such letters were sent out during the year,
and no less than 55 replies have been received expressing appreciation that
their attention had been drawn to the particular circumstances concerning
the vehicles, often operating hundreds of miles from their bases.
In almost every reply the owners informed the Depai'tment that as a
result of our letter defects had been discovered and remedied. Some of the
defects, as reported in these letters, are enumerated below.
Defective fuel pumps 15
Defective fuel injectors 27
Complete overhaul of engine
required 3
These were the main defects, and others reported were as follows:-
Defective carburettor
Radiator overheating
Complete new engine required
Oil leaking on to hot exhaust pipe
Defective gaskets
Defective pump seal
These results are, to say the least, encouraging and a real step
forward in-so-far as air pollution from motor vehicles is concerned.
Undoubtedly the owners of motor vehicles welcome the information that we send
to them, and it is our belief that if such measures were assiduously employed
by all local authorities a major step forward would be made in reducing air
pollution from this source.