Proximity of city schools in Scotland to air quality monitors: an exploratory geomapping study in five Scottish...

There are serious and long-term effects of air pollution on children, thus the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Air Pollution Working Group has evaluated whether air quality was being sufficiently monitored around Scottish city schools.

We undertook a web-based study of school placement and air quality monitors. Data, including location, from the automatic monitors were available on the Scottish Government's air quality webpages and on the UK Government site. These data (for both nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter) were supplemented by the non-automatic NO₂ diffusion tube locations, the geographical locations of which were found on the relevant local council websites. 340 primary schools and 95 secondary schools were mapped between the five city council regions. Using the council maps of schools and maps of monitors, we plotted the positions of the schools and monitors on a single map, and distances between schools and monitors were calculated using Google Earth measurement tools.

37% of primary schools and 36% of secondary schools are more than 1000 m away from any form of air pollution monitors and for both school types nearly two-thirds are further than 500 m away from monitors. Four out of five cities have no secondary schools within 50 m of air pollution monitors and greater than 97% of all schools are further than 50 m away from any form of air quality monitoring. The mean distance between the primary schools and air quality monitors is 1051 m and for secondary schools 997 m.

We have shown that very few schools are near enough to an air quality monitor to provide accurate local readings. The air safety of our school children at school in five Scottish cities, many of which are on busy city streets, is unknown.