LONDON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Nurseries in some of London's most polluted areas will receive air quality audits and trial new air filters, announced the London City Hall on Monday.
The 20 nursery schools and children's centres were selected in agreement with their local authority, based on assessments of the current annual average levels of nitrogen dioxide near the nursery.
They are spread across 12 boroughs in the capital and five of them will trial new indoor air quality filtration systems in the spring to test their effectiveness at reducing indoor air pollution.
These will be the first City Hall trials of indoor filtration with results expected later next year, alongside a toolkit that can be given to all non-participating nurseries so that they can conduct their own audits.
Each of the 20 nurseries will receive a grant of 4,500 pounds to help them implement recommendations following their audits.
The new scheme follows 50 successful audits the mayor delivered to primary schools earlier this year, which have already led to some schools taking action to close roads, upgrade their boilers, tackle engine idling and promote car-sharing schemes.
The audits focus on reducing NO2, PM10 and PM 2.5 as research shows children exposed to these smaller pollution particles and gases are more likely to grow up with lung problems and to develop asthma.
A recent study by University College London and the University of Cambridge,funded by the mayor, found that indoor air pollution was significantly higher inside classrooms, due to a range of factors including the age of buildings, ventilation, positioning of windows, and wall-to-wall carpeting.
The 250,000-pound programme is funded as part of the London mayor's Air Quality Fund and audits will be conducted by global engineering consultancy WSP, who will spend the next few weeks in the nurseries, assessing indoor and outdoor air pollution sources, looking at how children travel to the nurseries, and reviewing local walking routes including traffic crossings.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it remains a shameful fact that London's toxic air health crisis is harming the lung growth and respiratory health of the young children, and the city hall "will continue to prioritise the health of all Londoners with a range of strong measures including the introduction next April of the 24-hour Central London Ultra Low Emission Zone, cleaning up our bus fleet and working with boroughs on local interventions".
Louise Beanland, governor of Melcombe Primary School who received an audit, said "I welcome the commitment that the Mayor is showing to doing everything he can to improve the health and wellbeing of our children. The announcement of the 20 nurseries selected to receive an air quality audit and, other interventions, is yet another sign of such a commitment."
