HC Deb 09 November 1998 vol 319 cc19-21W
Mr. Brake

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on how many occasions in each month, or other period for which the information is available since 1 May 1997 WHO guidelines for atmospheric pollution levels have been exceeded. [59016]

Mr. Meale

Air pollution data from national monitoring sites, from 1 May 1997, for four pollutants (nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone and sulphur dioxide) for which WHO have set guidelines, is presented in the tables. It should be noted that data are provisional from 1 April 1998.

Nitrogen dioxide
WHO 1-hour mean>=110.ppb
Month Number of exceedences Number of days Maximum hourly ppb
May 1997 3 1 121
June 1997 2 2 249
July 1997 3 2 150
August 1997 4 4 144
September 1997 6 6 217
October 1997 35 3 249
November 1997 25 8 156
December 1997 6 3 154
January 1998 6 5 134
February 1998 9 7 132
April 1998 2 2 124
May 1998 3 3 122
June 1998 1 1 119
August 1998 3 3 123
October 1998 5 4 598
November 1998 1 1 190
Carbon monoxide
WHO 1-hour mean>=25.0ppm
Month Number of exceedences Number of days Maximum ppm
October 1998 4 4 48.8
Carbon monoxide
WHO 8-hour running average>=10.0ppm
Month Number of exceedences Number of days Maximum ppm
October 1997 2 2 12.1
November 1997 1 1 12.1
January 1998 4 4 11
October 1998 3 3 47.1
Ozone
WHO 8-hour running average>=60.0ppb
Month Number of exceedences Number of days Maximum ppb
May 1997 51 8 80
June 1997 28 6 77
July 1997 47 9 83
August 1997 204 14 100
April 1998 1 1 64
May 1998 78 16 84
June 1998 11 2 72
July 1998 1 1 60
August 1998 34 4 101
September 1998 6 5 71
October 1998 10 9 72
November 1998 1 1 65
Sulphur Dioxide
WHO 24-hour running average>=44.0ppb
Month Number of exceedences Number of days Maximum ppb
July 1997 3 3 82
September 1997 1 1 45
October 1997 9 8 78
November 1997 16 12 94
December 1997 8 6 92
January 1998 22 12 93
February 1998 2 2 56
May 1998 9 6 66
July 1998 2 2 65
September 1998 7 7 89
October 1998 2 2 47

Mr. Brake

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each month or other period for which the information is available since 1 May 1997, the total quantity of(a) CO2, (b) CO, (c) benzene, (d) sulphur, (e) NO, and (f) particulates emitted by road traffic, broken down by (i) car, (ii) motorcycle, (iii) van and (iv) lorry. [59013]

Mr. Meale

National UK emissions data are published annually in my Department's "Digest of Environmental Statistics", copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. UK emissions data are also available on the Department's air quality web site at http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/airq/aqinfo.htm and in the annual research report "UK Emissions of Air Pollutants", produced by the National Environmental Technology Centre. Annual UK emissions data are not yet available for 1997. A table showing the latest available published UK annual road transport emissions for 1996 follows.

UK emissions from road transport in 1996 Figures report by the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory for UK Digest of Environmental Statistics
Ktonnes NOx CO SO2 Benzene PM10 CO2 as C
Cars 523 2,798 14.6 23.0 13.2 19,324
Vans 58 306 5.1 1.5 8.1 3,329
HGVs 321 85 14.5 1.4 21.5 6,904
Buses 63 41 3.0 0.3 4.6 1,443
Motorcycles 1 70 0.1 0.2 0.4 118
All vehicles 966 3,299 37.2 26.3 47.7 31,118