Clean fresh air is an important and valued feature of Taranaki’s quality of life.
Air quality in Taranaki is generally excellent - due to Taranaki’s windy and exposed nature, its dispersed population, the absence of heavy industry and low vehicle numbers.
The Council has a comprehensive programme for monitoring all air discharge consents. And over recent years the Council has worked with major consent holders to promote significant upgrades in emission controls or production processes. This has greatly reduced emissions to air.
The Council also carries out ambient air quality monitoring as part of its State of the Environment monitoring activities. This shows that Taranaki air quality compares extremely well with national guidelines and other parts of New Zealand.
Air monitoring report
A report published by the Taranaki Regional Council in 2003 describes a monitoring programme implemented by the Council between 6 May and 28 October 2003 to assess the quality of the ambient air in New Plymouth, and the results of that work.
The work entailed the sampling of air on a continuous basis for 24 hours, every three days, and determination of the average concentration of PM10 (particles 10 microns or less in size — five times smaller than the diameter of a human hair and able to enter deep into the lungs).
The Council also undertook, as a further stage of investigation, analysis of six filters used during the monitoring, to confirm the likely origins of suspended particulate matter collected during each sampling period.
The monitoring showed that overall, 80% of samples fell into the Ministry for the Environment's 'excellent' or 'good' categories, and all results met the 'acceptable' category.
A similar monitoring programme is currently taking place, with results fed to this website — see link in navigation panel at top right.
To read the 2003 report, click on the link below.
Inhalable Particulate Regional Monitoring Programme Report (2.3MB)