HS2 Air Quality and Dust Monitoring Report Template

HS2 UK places high emphasis on maintaining excellent air quality during the construction of the High Speed 2 Railway. One way to achieve this is to provide accurate data on the generated pollutants during construction and provide measures to mitigate generation. Here are some methods and equipment that you could employ to monitor pollutants during your activities on the High Speed 2 rail line.

Automatic Air Quality Monitors (data for the HS2 Air Quality and Dust Monitoring Report)

Automatic air quality monitoring stations (monitors) are the most advanced air quality monitoring devices. The public receives information from automatic monitors that pull in air and detect pollution concentrations in the sample. To guarantee that data provided is correct and dependable, a high level of operation is necessary, which includes operator training, frequent maintenance, calibrations, and rigorous quality assurance/quality control procedures.

Dust Deposition Gauges

Dust deposition gauges are a low-cost, dependable method of performing simple non-real-time dust monitoring. They are designed to determine the mass of particles that settle from ambient air during a reporting period. Particles are collected on a glass funnel and enter a vessel below after rainfall during the sampling period.

Handheld Monitoring Devices

Portable air quality monitors are another way to assess air pollution, which provides a more comprehensive and real-time perspective of air quality than stationary monitoring stations. These enable the environmental team to gather real-time data from several sites, assisting in identifying pollution hotspots and guiding a better approach to the construction of the high speed 2 rail. Furthermore, they enable companies to take charge of air quality monitoring by giving real-time information that stationary sensors may overlook.

Meteorological Stations

Wind patterns may often transport pollutants across distances; thus, emissions from one region can have an impact on air quality in another. When these emissions comprise pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), they may have an effect on the health of those living near the construction site of the high-speed 2 rail line. A weather station is a collection of equipment and devices used to monitor and record numerous atmospheric characteristics, including temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and solar radiation. This assists HS2 UK in determining where contaminants may be transported and developing measures to prevent them from spreading.

Gravimetric Sampling

Gravimetric air sampling is regarded as the most reliable technique for detecting particle mass concentrations, since it can be sampled at very low detection limits. A sample is obtained by pulling a certain amount of air through a collecting substrate, which is subsequently transmitted for further examination. When sampling gravimetrically, the airborne concentration of a certain material is estimated by combining the analytical results with the amount of air sampled.