Calne school becomes first location for Wiltshire air quality sensor
The county's Community Air Network wants to monitor emissions
A primary school in Calne has become the first location in Wiltshire to have an air quality sensor installed, to monitor local emissions.
The county's Community Air Network (WCAN) has put up the equipment at Holy Trinity C of E Academy.
It'll check for PM2.5 air pollution, with the group set to install over 100 sensors across the county, providing real-time data that we can access online.
Wiltshire Council's funding the purchase of the kit for a year-long project.
It's thought PM2.5 particles in the air that can increase the risk of health problems and be damaging to the environment.
Graham Shore, Headteacher at Holy Trinity CE Academy, said: “We are very pleased to be the first school in Wiltshire to be hosting one of these air quality sensors. Our school is located on a busy road and close to a recycling centre which is why we want to find out more about emissions and pollution levels.
“The children will be able to use the data from this sensor to find out more about the environment, but it will also be used in maths and science lessons.”
New sensors will soon be allocated across Wiltshire, covering all 18 area board locations, and in places that have a higher footfall of people.
The sensors need to be placed outdoors, plugged in to a mains power supply and connected to a stable internet connection.
At the end of the one-year project, hosts can choose to keep the sensor for their own use or return it to the council for recycling.
Existing monitoring indicates that the air quality in Wiltshire is predominantly very good, with much of the county having clean, unpolluted air.
But there are a small number of locations where the combination of traffic, road layout and topography result in pollutants being trapped so that concentrations increase to unacceptable levels.
PM2.5 is not currently part of the UK Government’s Local Air Quality Management framework, so local authorities are not required to monitor and report levels.