Bombed to rubble in World War II, Rotterdam later became a marvel of economic growth. Holland's second biggest city now boasts the world's busiest port and a vast complex of petrochemical plants with blue-chip owners like Shell and British Petroleum. Unfortunately, the marvel also gushes appalling fumes — acrylates, hydrocarbons, paint solvents and sulfur dioxide. Of all Dutch deaths from bronchitis in urban areas, the highest number occur in Rotterdam. Dutch workers are quitting the city's industries, which are seeking replacements from as far away as Turkey.
In response to this situation, Rotterdam has completed the first phase of the world's most sophisticated, fully automated, air-pollution-warning system, which will soon be nationwide. It consists of 31 electric "sniffers," which mon itor sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. Mounted on poles around 21 major plants, the sniffers filter SO, traces, translate hourly readings into" electric current and transmit the data to a central Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken computer located in the nearby town of Schiedam. If the SO., level rises above .5 parts per million, the computer sounds an alarm and an electronic map pinpoints the offending plant. If weather conditions indicate a pollution buildup in the area, the computer operator calls the offender and requests a cutback in waste emissions.
The system is so precise that the sniffers can detect a single polluting smokestack almost four miles from a sensor. Officials at Shell's giant refinery in Rotterdam recently received a call asking them why the plant's No. 4 boiler was burning oil with an unusually high sulfur content. As it turned out, Shell had run out of cleaner fuel—and wrongly figured that its burn would pass unnoticed in Rotterdam's smoggy air.
Pollution sensors are not unique to The Netherlands. Some U.S. cities, such as New York, have tried various types since 1967. IBM is currently working on a 103-sensor network for Pennsylvania's Allegheny County (Pittsburgh). None of these systems, however, can pinpoint the source of existing pollution.