16 new measuring stations in NRW
The organisation Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is taking the matter seriously and will be commissioning a total of 16 new measuring stations for nitrogen oxide measurements in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In judicial settlement negotiations, DUH has pushed through more than a dozen new measuring stations for seven cities in NRW to control the limit value for the diesel exhaust poison nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The first monthly values will be available to DUH this year.
Jürgen Resch told the press last Wednesday at the Berlin office: "In seven cities in NRW particularly affected by diesel exhaust fumes, we were able to push through new measuring stations for nitrogen dioxide at potential air pollution hotspots we identified. To monitor the effectiveness of the concrete measures we have implemented, the network of traffic-related nitrogen dioxide measurements in NRW is now being expanded by almost 20 percent. In this way, we will ensure that the air is clean across the entire area and not just selectively around the existing measuring stations. In this way, we ensure that the measures taken do not lead to exceedances at previously unmonitored points".
If the values, which have been declining in recent months due to corona, now rise again, things will become tight and costly: for the seven cities of Bielefeld, Bochum, Dortmund, Essen, Hagen, Cologne and Oberhausen, these measuring stations, together with the packages of measures, are the very last chance to avoid unpleasant diesel driving bans.
Despite these considerable successes, DUH is not letting it rest and has announced that it intends to install further measuring stations in Wuppertal as well.