'A Network of Trust': Measuring and Monitoring Air Pollution in British Cities, 1912-1960

Abstract

This paper examines the origins and development of the first nationwide air pollution monitoring network of its kind. The Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution was founded in 1912 with less than 30 participating bodies. By the 1960s it had expanded its research activities to involve over 500 cooperating authorities and organisations in almost every major British town and city. The paper is set out in three interrelated parts. Firstly, it explores how central and local government, representatives of industry, and non-governmental organisations worked together to establish an expert body that could gather information on polluted air, despite their different interests and agendas. Secondly, it draws historical attention to the importance (and difficulties) of technical standard-setting in providing reliable and policy-relevant knowledge about environmental pollution. Lastly, it will examine the uses of monitoring in efforts to raise public awareness of the problems caused by coal smoke and its role in supporting action to reduce urban air pollution, particularly after the 1952 London smog disaster.

Correlation of gravestone decay and air quality 1960–2010

“…Correlation between gravestone decay and measured SO2 and smoke concentrations (air quality) is suggested by their similar exponential trends (Figures 2 and 3). By about 1980 there was a dramatic turnaround in air quality (Mosley, 2009;2011) that is evident in both the SO2 and smoke data ( Figure 2) and is well documented in decreasing gravestone decay rates (Mooers et al, 2016) and therefore acid flux. At this time there is a change in the directional dependence of gravestone decay on land use (Figure 8) and an increase in the optimum radius of influence of land use on gravestone decay rates (Tables 3 and 4).…”

“…The study area includes West Midlands County and surrounding portions of Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire ( Figure 1). The industrial and residential development of the area is well documented, there is a large number of cemeteries ( Figure 1A) with lead-lettered marble gravestones, and a network of air quality monitoring stations was in place by 1960 ( Figure 1B) (Mosley, 2009(Mosley, , 2011. Decadally averaged rates of gravestone decay and measured SO2 and smoke are interpolated spatially for the period after 1960 and correlation between them is evaluated.…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2009

“…Desrochers takes issue with those who are too eager to condemn the Victorians for a lack of environmental concern, seeing in the British Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce the origins of the corporate sustainability movement. Mosley examines the formation by the state, industry, and NGOs of the first national air pollution monitoring network in 1912. Articles by Spar and Bebenek and by V.…”

Insights from a Chronology of the Development of Atmospheric Composition Monitoring Networks Since the 1800s

“…A maximum of five sites per urban area were then chosen to provide characteristic concentrations for different districts, namely, high-density terraced housing, moderate-to low-density housing (suburban), the commercial centre, industrial development and smoke controlled areas. The carefully constructed criteria for site locations ensured representativeness across the UK and corrected a previous bias in measurements towards heavily industrialised areas [67]. The coordination and standardisation of the National Survey increased the information gained from UK smoke and SO 2 monitoring, including associations between human health and air pollution [85,86], and between trends in pollutant concentrations and emission reductions [87].…”

“…However, the information obtained on smoke and sulphur pollution was limited by the imprecision of the method (at best ±20%), and the measurements often reflected deposited material from highly localised sources [1]. The location of some sites in the most polluted areas of towns also made spatial comparisons difficult [67]. Similar limitations applied to the early smoke, total suspended particulates (TSP) and dustfall monitoring in US cities (e.g., in Pittsburgh [68]).…”