Sensors working overtime: How Breathe London are helping community groups help themselves

Around the world, air quality monitoring is being democratised as air quality monitors become more affordable and there are more people willing to step in and help local communities understand the data

In April, Greg Bowser, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association was unhappy with the idea that his members might be legally bound to monitor the air quality around their plants. “I’d rather leave the system the way it is, so folks aren’t alarmed,” he bleated, “I worry that generating a lot of data will create a lot of fear.”

Sadly for Greg, that ship has sailed. Community groups and activists around the world are becoming increasingly savvy at organising themselves, analysing data and presenting it effectively. What’s more there are plenty of institutions ready to help them.

Over the last four or five years, the Breathe London network has become an exemplar of community action on air quality. More than 40 local groups have been weaponised with monitoring equipment and are being supported by people who know what they’re talking about.

When Breathe London began in 2018 it looked quite different to its present incarnation. It was intended as a one-year programme jointly run by the GLA alongside C40 Cities and was primarily financed by the Children’s

Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).

250 school children and 33 teachers were given backpacks containing air quality sensors to carry with them for five days. The children were engaged in discussions about air quality issues and the resulting data was the most comprehensive yet seen.

The reason this happened in London was because it had an extensive air quality monitoring network not because it needed one. The sophisticated equipment the city already had in place could be used to validate data from the lower cost network being introduced. The intention being that, once the concept had been tested and proved, it could be replicated in lower capacity cities globally.

When the CIFF funding for the project ended, the Mayor secured more to continue the programme, which led to it becoming what it is today.

These days the network is run by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London (who also run the London Air Quality Network) along with the American air quality sensor company Clarity. Bloomberg Philanthropies have also supplied funding to the project.

The person to speak to regarding anything relating to Breathe London is Andrew Grieve from Imperial College’s Environmental Research Group, a man who says in his ICL profile: “My interests lie at the intersection of emerging digital technologies and air quality communication.”

The current incarnation of Breathe London began in 2021 when it was became known as the Breathe London Community Programme. In round one, ten local projects were provided with air monitoring sensors. In Redbridge, Lydia Fraser-Ward installed hers in a children’s playground where she had spent a lot of time during lockdown. “I am deeply concerned by the effects of air pollution on health, and that is why I was so keen to support the campaign to have an air-quality monitor installed. The playground is set in lovely parkland surroundings but it is also close to the A406, which has very high levels of vehicular pollution.”

Lydia’s monitor became something of celebrity, with Sadiq Khan paying it a visit shortly after it was installed.

When Breathe was first launched, Andrew pointed out on an ICL podcast that “The impact of air pollution is not equal, research has shown that there are some demographics that are more affected by air pollution than others and quite often these are low income groups. So one of the aims of the project is to try and reach communities that are affected by pollution but maybe not yet as engaged in it as some others are.”

This sense of disengagement among disadvantaged communities has been brought up in other projects such as Born in Bradford, in which respondents felt they had too many other things to worry about without becoming concerned with something they couldn’t even see.

As Andrew subsequently realised, “If you’re approaching deprived areas and offering them air quality monitoringwhich is probably something that they’ve never thought of before, you’re going to need to give them support. But there’s a real benefit for the community groups feeling a sense of ownership of the sensors they have. ”

As the project matured - it’s recently launched its third round, in which 20 monitors have been distributed - the groups taking them on have been more informed.

There are now 40 groups in the programme and as Andrew says, “They all have slightly different aims but there’s a commonality and one of the common themes is that more of them are interacting with the local authority. They’re presenting their data and saying “what can you do about this?”

Needless to say this sort of interaction is new and potentially confusing to local authorities. To what extent do they trust the data being presented to them?

“Local authorities are now increasingly faced with this,” says Andrew, “people buying sensors off eBay and taking their data to them and saying ‘this is our data, now we want you to do this’. And authorities are faced with a dilemma‘it’s not regulatory monitoring data but we still have a group of passionate residents here who want to do something, how do I present this to the transport team or the environment team?’”

The Breathe monitors do not present this problem, in fact their accuracy is built around the very monitors the authorities use to gather their data. “The reliability of this new generation of small, inexpensive sensors can be compromised by changes in temperature and humidity and different particle make-ups so to counter that we ensure that our monitors are co-located alongside reference stations before being taken into the field. We also have 19 Clarity sensors at reference stations permanently. We look at how they are performing versus the reference station every hour, then apply a correction factor to the rest of the network. That dramatically improves the data quality.”

This gives the local authorities more certainty that the data is accurate, which puts the community group on a more even footing. “That’s an important aspect of the programme.” says Andrew, “ We want to empower the community groups and while you could argue they should be doing it entirely on their own I think most of the groups have felt the benefit of being able to say ‘this data has come from Imperial’”.

Andrew sees these smaller, cheaper monitors as complimenting the existing system, not undermining it. “The rules about where regulatory monitors have to go are very specific. They’re set out in the technical guidance which is updated every two years or so. But they are very specific for good reason: data from one local authority is comparable to another because they’re all buying the same types of monitors and following the same siting criteria.” to when he says: “Having a sensor is useful but it’s just the start of the story. Success is dependent on having amazing people and putting in the time and effort, that’s what it comes down to.”

Meanwhile, back in the USA, more groups are preparing to prove to Greg Bowser that ordinary people are not intimidated by data, as the New York State Government announces $2.1 million in funding to provide monitoring equipment to community-driven projects. “The funding will support community-based not-for-profit organisations working in disadvantaged communities throughout the state that are disproportionately burdened by pollution. The grants will advance local efforts to obtain air quality data tailored to issues identified by community residents.”

Everybody’s doing it...

Comments From A Handful Of Community Groups Involved In The Breath London Network

Born Everywhere, Made in Newham

Newham’s residents are increasingly concerned about poor air quality in the borough. We are a young, diverse and thriving borough, and we are coming together as a community to take action and improve the environment we live in.

Stockwell Main Road Communities

After doing manual traffic counts on our road and trying to lobby the council to install an AQ monitor we saw the BL programme advertised and want to now use our membership of the network and data from the node to boost awareness of AQ issues facing residential main road communities.

Climate Action Lewisham

“These small sensors can fill in the gaps in between, either in places where you can’t physically get a reference monitor or if it’s for a specific community concern that wouldn’t warrant putting in 25 grand’s worth of equipment.”

In Brixton, Sacha Manson-Smith and partner Louise Thomas have been presented with a Breathe London monitor as part of the third round. They had first become interested in air quality matter in 2019 when they were part of a group campaigning for a School Street outside a primary school in Lambeth. “We borrowed a portable air quality monitor from Lambeth Council.” says Sacha, “We were hoping to measure PM2.5 levels to provide a baseline. However, the data from the monitor was difficult to interpret correctly as it was a single snapshot and without any longer-term information.”

This did not put them off and when they heard about the Breath project they applied for a monitor to place at their younger daughter’s nursery, situated at the heart of Brixton, just off the highly polluted A23.

“The prospect of being able to site a calibrated air quality monitor, backed by the expertise of the ERG group at Imperial College London, was a great opportunity to take our involvement in local air quality monitoring further.

“They offer community groups guidance on interpreting air quality data, ideas for engaging with the public and a network of groups across London doing the same to bounce ideas off. We didn’t expect all of the wrap-around support and it’s been amazing!”

The couple have since started a blog to document their experiences: www.substack.com/@airaware

Sacha and Louise in Brixton, and Lydia Fraser-Ward in Redbridge are the sort of people Andrew Grieve is referring

The new monitor will give us visibility of air pollution levels on Lewisham Way. Ashmead Primary School is on the north side of this heavily congested road and Lewisham college on the South side, so large numbers of children and young people spend their days in this area.

Haringey Fixers

Really grateful we've been made this award. These Breathe London sensors base our response to climate change on real and continuing evidence.

Christ’s College Finchley Breathe

Joining the Breathe London Community Programme will provide our students with an exceptional opportunity to understand the air pollution levels in our local area.

Hounslow Borough Respiratory Support Group

We are keen to play our part in reducing harmful emissions to provide a better and safer environment for our members and the general public.

Hyde Park Estate Residents

There has been a highly emotional and divisive debate locally about measures to reduce rat-running and air pollution, while improving road safety. This new research tool will sharpen that debate moving forward ”

Beckton Community Air Quality Group

The availability of hard data offers a powerful rationale for action. We also hope this work will forge a long-lasting local commitment and relationship between health, education and our environment

The Friends of St James Primary School

Participation in the Breathe London Community Programme is an exciting opportunity to empower our school community to monitor, evaluate, and act on improving local and city-wide air quality

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