AIR IMPURITIES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 163, 7 April 1934, Page 7

AIR IMPURITIES

Investigation in Britain The telltale gauges scattered throughout Britain, which day by day measure the impurities in the air. produced some curious facts last year, states the “News-Chronicle.” For instance, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, in their latest report on atmospheric pollution, note that the’gauge at Ravenscourt Park, a residential district in West London, shows a great increase in pollution in sulphates. The total deposit for the year there was at Hie rate of 107 tons per square mile, which is the maximum recorded at any one station. Taking a group of 4S stations for which an average could be determined, the report shows that the deposit of tar —the sticky oily matter in the air—was 14 per cent, less for last year than for the average of the last five years. The decrease in deposit of total solids was 11 per cent. Records with the “automatic filter." which indicates the amount of impurity suspended in the air. producing smoke haze, were made at 13 stations. Referring to the loss of sunlight due to smoke pollution, the report mentions that at Halifax, in 1931-32. the more heavily-polluted of two stations compared with the other lost ns much as » 20 per cent, of sunlight, while in the year 1932-33 the corn--ponding loss was about 17 per cent.