Under the Air Quality (Amendment) Regulations 2002, the Government has set specific air quality objectives for seven pollutants that must be achieved by certain dates. The pollutants and air quality objectives can be seen in the table below.

If any of the objectives are likely to be exceeded by the specified date then the local authority must declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

Pollutant	Air Quality Objectives		Date to be achieved by
	Concentration	Measured as
Benzene	16.25 microgram/m3 5 microgram/m3	Running annual mean Annual mean	31.12.2003 31.12.2010
1,3-Butadiene	2.25 microgram/m3	Running annual mean	31.12.2003
Carbon Monoxide	10 mg/m3	Maximum daily running 8-hour mean	31.12.2003
Lead	0.5 microgram/m3 0.25 microgram/m3	Annual mean Annual mean	31.12.2004 31.12.2008
Nitrogen Dioxide	200 microgram/m3 not to be exceeded more than 18 times a year 40 microgram/m3	1-hour mean   Annual mean	31.12.2005 31.12.2005
Particles (PM10) (gravimetric)	50 microgram/m3 not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year 40 microgram/m3	24-hour mean Annual mean	31.12.2004 31.12.2004
Sulphur Dioxide	350 microgram/m3 not to be exceeded more than 24 times a year 125 microgram/m3 not to be exceeded more than 3 times a year 266 microgram/m3 not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year	1-hour mean 24-hour mean 15-minute mean	31.12.2004 31.12.2004 31.12.2005

 

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