Working to improve air quality in our region

Community and Public Health provides a supporting role to Environment Canterbury for monitoring and policy responses to ambient air quality issues and improvements.

Environment Canterbury is responsible for monitoring of Canterbury air quality.

Ministry for the Environment develops national indicators and strategies on air quality.

Air pollution and air quality in New Zealand

New Zealand research suggests that ambient air pollution is responsible for an estimated 970 premature deaths each year in people over 30 years of age, approximately 400 of which are from vehicle emissions. Fine particles are produced in the combustion of fuel pose greater health risks than previously thought – these are known as PM10 and PM2.5. Harmful gases also affect air quality such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, benzene and nitrogen dioxide.

There are several different sources of air pollution:

• Burning wood, coal, gas, diesel or other materials for home heating such as domestic fires are the main contributor to ambient air pollution in many parts of New Zealand.
• Cars, buses, off-road vehicles, trucks, planes and diesel trains produce exhaust containing fine particles and other air pollutants. Traffic can also create dust.
• Many industrial processes release air pollutants as well as burning wood, coal, gas, diesel or other materials for heating commercial or public buildings like schools and hospitals.
• Natural sources include wind-blown dust, pollen, sea salt, volcanic ash and bio-aerosols.

Children, elderly people and those with respiratory diseases are more vulnerable to air pollution and areas of high deprivation have greater excess mortality from air pollution. The infographic below shows the health impacts of the common air pollutants.
Find out more about the health effects of some common air pollutants (Ministry for the Environment).

Documents

• Our air 2018: A summary of the 2018 environment report (Ministry for the Environment 2018).
• Canterbury Air Regional Plan (Environment Canterbury 2017)
• Options for research to enhance national air quality information for environmental reporting (Ministry for the Environment 2016)
• Airshed progress report 2012 (Ministry for the Environment 2014)
• Updated Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand Study: Summary Report (Health Research Council, Ministry of Transport, Ministry for the Environment and NZ Transport Agency 2012)
• Clean Healthy Air for All New Zealanders: The National Air Quality Compliance Strategy to Meet the PM10 standard (Ministry for the Environment 2011)
• Revised National Environmental Standards for Air Quality: Evaluation under Section 32 of the Resource Management Act (Ministry for the Environment 2011)

Links

• Air Quality (Ministry for the Environment)
• Environment Canterbury
• Air Quality in Canterbury (LAWA)
• Vehicle Exhaust Emissions (NZTA)

Canterbury Regional Air Plan

Community and Public Health has a joint work plan with Environment Canterbury around common areas of interest, including air quality.

One example of this collaboration was the review of the Regional Air Plan. A joint Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the Air Plan was done to assess the potential impact of proposed plan changes on population health.

The HIA revealed that air quality is closely linked with housing, heating, and energy use, and these factors need to be considered when dealing with unintended health consequences. The HIA recommendations included the carefully phased introduction of home heating changes along with supporting measures, such as targeted heating and insulation subsidies.

• Read the Health Impact Assessment of the Canterbury Regional Air Plan.
• Read the CDHB Submission on the Proposed Canterbury Regional Air Plan.
• Read the Canterbury Air Regional Plan – released in October 2017.