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Air quality

In the days before the proliferation of large cities and industry, nature's own systems kept the air fairly clean.  Wind mixed and dispersed the gases, rain washed the dust and other substances to the ground, and plants absorbed carbon dioxide and replaced it with oxygen.  However, with increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, humans started to release more wastes into the atmosphere than nature could cope with.

Fortunately for us, New Zealand has relatively good air quality.

Air quality is a major issue in many parts of the world, as this global map highlights.

Try out this quiz to test your understanding of air quality issues.

Kids for clean air is a simple explanation of the issues surrounding pollution and air quality.

Environment Bay of Plenty provides good information and statistics on air quality in the Rotorua District.

What's so important about  air quality...?

 A clean, healthy environment, including air quality, is important for people’s physical wellbeing.  The New Zealand government has introduced a National Environmental Standard for Air Quality to reduce air pollution.  The standards require councils to put in place plans to reduce measured levels of small particulate matter (PM10s) in their local air by September 2013.  After that time, if they can't meet the standards, the government can restrict the granting of new resource consents in the area that would create any significant discharges.

Research shows that poor air quality causes ill health in some communities.  PM10 is an air pollutant of particular concern, because it regularly occurs at high levels in urban areas, and is linked to harmful health effects.  Fine particles in the air, predominantly from home wood burning fireplaces and heating appliances, collect in the lungs causing respiratory illnesses such as asthma.  Rotorua is one of a number of towns in New Zealand where tests have shown air quality is below the new national standard.  Research suggests that pollution levels cause health damage equivalent to 22 deaths in Rotorua each year.

What you can do

Environment Bay of Plenty suggests the following ways of reducing air pollution:

• Ensure you home is warm and dry.
• Stock up on firewood 6-12 months before winter to ensure it is well seasoned, and store it in a dry place. Burning wet wood increases emissions.
• Don’t burn driftwood, treated wood, or painted wood.  These all release dangerous chemicals to the atmosphere.
• Burn smaller, hotter fires.  They are more efficient.  Avoid letting the fire smoulder, either by overloading it, or dampening down, especially overnight.
• Upgrade to a new woodfire, heat pump, pellet fire, gas heating or geothermal energy if available.
• Smarter Homes has a website that can help you assess your home.  It has advice on how to make your home cheaper to run, more comfortable to live in, and more environmentally friendly.

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