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.
Regional AIr Quality Plan for Taranaki
Air monitoring report
A report published by the Taranaki Regional Council in Ocotber 2010 describes a monitoring programme implemented by the Council between January and May 2010 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, 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 monitoring showed that 55% of daily average results fell into the Ministry for the Environment's 'excellent' or 'good' categories, and 41% of the results met the 'acceptable' category.Six daily results from the total of 138 days monitored fell into the 'alert' category. All of these results occurred during moderate to heavy rainfall and, in the majority of cases, during fresh onshore winds. These findings confirm those of previouis surveys that sea salt spray is a major source of PM10
To read more about the 2010 New Plymouth air monitoring programme, click on the link in the navigation panel top right.
To read the 2010 report, click on the link below.
Inhalable Particulate Regional Monitoring Programme Report (500 KB)