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ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
The measurement of Atmospheric Pollution as assessed by the
deposit of Smoke or Sulphurous gases in the Borough was continued
throughout the year. The first station, already well-established
at the Public Health Department premises, worked satisfactorily for
the whole of the year with the exception of one short period of a few
days when the electric motor broke down. The new station sited at
Glifden Road Baths, Brentford, came into operation at the end of 1950,
and recordings were taken from 1st January, 1951.
The amount of smoke content and sulphur dioxide deposit was
recorded for each twenty-four hour period, with a daily note of the
local weather conditions and the average wind direction for the day.
On 99 days of the year the wind was Westerly, on 43 days South
Westerly and on 48 days Easterly. On the other days of the year the
wind was fairly equally distributed between the remaining points of
the compass. On examination of the daily figures there was no
apparent increase of pollution between estimations taken when the
drift was from due West or East.
Monthly reports of recordings and other particulars were
submitted to the Fuel Research Station of the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research for comparison with the rest of
the country, and the officers of the Fuel Research Station were
consulted at any time when special problems occurred concerning the
reading of results or breakdown of equipment.. Bulletins from the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research were received
regularly in the Department so that results could be compared with
those in other areas.
A brief summary of the year's recordings follows in Table XIV,
and are represented in graph form as Graph "C". Graph "D" shows the
monthly rise and fall in the pollution figures for Brentford and
Chiswick, also Leeds, Central London and Lerwick. These latter
places have been chosen in order to illustrate the varying amounts
of pollution from a virtually smokeless atmosphere i.e. Lerwick, to
an industrial area i.e. Leeds,
It will be noted from Table XIV that smoke pollution in
Brentford was higher than in Chiswick for the first six months of the
year and again in December, while for the period July to November
figures were either level or slightly to the disadvantage of
Chiswick. On the whole, however, there was very little difference
in the amount of pollution between the two experimental sites for
the complete year.
The figures tor both parts of the Borough compare very
favourably with London itself, and even more favourably with the
industrial Midlands, this in spite of the fact that there is a high
proportion of factory premises within the Borough boundaries.
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