Air quality in Waltham Forest

We have an extensive air pollution monitoring network including:

• Three real-time automatic monitoring stations
• Over 50 nitrogen dioxide (NO2) diffusion tube sites
• Three mobile small sensors used in connection with specific projects

Our three real-time automatic stations are at:

• Crooked Billet roundabout (kerbside site)
• Ruckholt Close, Leyton (roadside site)
• Dawlish Road, Leyton (background site)

All three sites monitor for nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter below 10 microns in size (a micron is 1000th of a millimetre). This is known as PM10. The Dawlish Road site also monitors even smaller particles called PM2.5.

You'll find real-time data from these three monitoring stations on the Air Quality in England website. It is freely available to download.

We place diffusion tubes at a location for roughly one month at a time. These passive monitors absorb NO2 in the locality. After a month, they are sent away for analysis. The data is then reviewed and ratified. That's why we publish results from these sites yearly as part of our annual status report. See the ‘Air quality reports’ page.

The Mayor of London has set up the Breathe London network, which has monitoring locations across the city using small sensors. In Waltham Forest, there is a site at Whipps Cross Hospital which monitors NO2 and PM2.5, providing real-time data.

See the results on the Breath London website..