We recently purchased a professional air quality meter which measures particulate matter in the air. The results are no surprise to us. Most of the time we get high readings, the exception being when it goes very high and starts flashing up as "unhealthy".
As you can see, we get unhealthy readings, even indoors, on a Saturday when there are no lorries travelling to and from the Aggregate Industries yard. This could be because, all week long, they are spreading dust all over the area, so it's on the road, and unrelated traffic will kick up the dust.
These trails of dust can easily be seen all the way up Victoria Road near the school, extending all the New Street to the University, and tracked into residential streets.
Who gets it worse on any particular day depends on which way the wind is blowing, but we are seeing high readings all over this part of Chelmsford.
Is 75 µg/m3 a big number?
According to the World Health Organization, the recommended levels of PM2.5 particulate to average below 10 micrograms per cubic meter, which Chelmsford as a whole exceeded for years. However, in 2021 they lowered this recommendation to below 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
The updated guidelines state that annual average concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 µg/m3, while 24-hour average exposures should not exceed 15 µg/m3 more than 3 - 4 days per year.
This was in light of new research showing the effects of air pollution on public health. As you can clearly see in these videos, we are being regularly exposed to levels up to 75 µg/m3.
Chelmsford is listed as one of the top 100 worst cities for air pollution, and we suspect Aggregate Industries are contributing to the problem.
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