The objectives of air quality monitoring programmes

Abstract

The most important factor to be considered in designing a monitoring system is the objective(s). Indeed, the International Organisation for Standardisation believes that design criteria ‘will only be possible for air quality monitoring systems which deal with equivalent tasks’ (IOS, 1975). Unfortunately, air quality data are used for purposes other than those originally intended by the agency that designed the system. This situation is difficult to prevent once the data have entered the public domain.