Outdoor Air Quality Still Wanting - Especially Down South
February 11th, 2009
NZ’s outdoor air quality is improving, but fewer than half (42 %) of the country’s monitored airsheds complied with national standards for airborne particulate matter in 2007. A new report from the Ministry for the Environment says “compliance with the national standard has increased from 31 % in 2005. However, 18 of the non-complying airsheds in 2005 have continued to breach the PM10 standard.”
Otago, Timaru and Rotorua airsheds breached the standards most often, while the generally high incidence of South Island areas exceeding the standard reflected continued higher use of wood and coal for winter heating. On the positive side, 2007 was the first year where all five main urban airsheds, including Christchurch and Dunedin, operated within the particulate matter standards throughout the year. NZ’s outdoor air quality in the five main centres was roughly on a par with Australian airsheds in Sydney and Port Philip Bay (including Melbourne).
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