High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Monday, May 18, 2009
PM 10 Concentration
Particulate pollution can harm the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and is linked to asthma and mortality. Smaller particles are the most damaging and current targets focus on particles less than 10µm in diameter (PM10).
Coal burning, diesel combustion, construction, mining and quarrying are the major sources of particulate emissions. Road transport accounted for around 21% of UK emissions of PM10 in 2006. Between 1990 and 2006, UK emissions of PM10 fell by 50%.
The Air Quality Strategy1 objectives for PM10 come in two stages. Stage 1 (to be met by the end of 2004): a 24-hour mean of 50µg/m3 not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year, and an annual mean of 40µg/m3. Stage 2 (to be met by the end of 2010): a 24-hour mean of 50 µg/m3 not to be exceeded more than seven times a year, and an annual mean of 18µg/m3. Stage 1 objectives were met at all automatic monitoring sites in 2007 and Stage 2 objectives were met at three of the eight automatic monitoring sites in Scotland - Aberdeen, Grangemouth and Inverness.
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Source: UK National Air Quality Archive
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