Welcome to Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s website pages on air. In this section you will find information about air monitoring and research, air pollutants, monthly reports, dust, burning, odour, and agrichemical use.
Air quality in Hawke’s Bay is generally very good for most of the time. However in winter concentrations of fine smoke particles, or “PM10” (mostly from domestic wood burning) can build up, sometimes to unhealthy levels.
Other air quality issues are generally localised. Odour from various activities and agrichemical spraydrift can create problems for neighbours, if the sources are not well managed. Dust from agricultural activities can also be a problem, in the drier seasons, and in spring when the equinoxial gales can coincide with ploughing which is common at that time of year to prepare soils for sowing summer crops.
Please contact us at the Hawke's Bay Regional Council if you have any concerns about air pollution.
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The answer? We all breathe it. So we soon notice when dust, dirt, smells or smoke affect our quality of life. While short lived problems do happen and may be more tolerable, it can affect our health, businesses, and outdoor enjoyment when problems become more frequent or intense.
Hawke’s Bay enjoys reasonably clean air as we have a relatively low population, low traffic volumes and only a few major industries. However we should not take this for granted.
Resource consents are required for major emissions, but for a lot of activity some basic good practices can improve air quality for everyone.
In October 2004, the Government introduced the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality which all regional councils in New Zealand must work towards meeting by 2013.
The 14 standards include:
- seven standards banning activities that discharge significant quantities of dioxins and other toxics into the air
- five standards for ambient (outdoor) air quality (one of these is for PM10)
- a design standard for new wood burners installed in urban areas
- a requirement for landfills over 1 million tonnes of refuse to collect greenhouse gas emissions.
Since this time, regional councils and unitary authorities have identified “airsheds” - areas where air quality is likely, or known, to exceed national air quality standards.
The Ministry for the Environment website is a useful source of information on these standards and has timetable details for achieving the standard.
Air quality in Hawke’s Bay is affected by everyday activities. Some of the issues are:
- Fine smoke particles (PM10) in urban areas, mostly from domestic heating fires on winter evenings, with smaller amounts from vehicles and some industrial sources
- Meeting National Environmental Standards for PM10 in Hastings and Napier.
- Agricultural spray drift
- Odour from some farming, industry and waste management operations
- Visibility affected by smoke from open burning
- Dust and windblown dirt from cropping and industrial activities
- Boundaries between urban and rural areas, and between residential and industrial areas, where many of these issues are compounded because of different expectations about air quality.
At home
- Reduce the amount of heating needed, by insulating your home, using thermal drapes and closing them before nightfall, and installing good seals round doors and windows.
- Maximise the use of the sun’s natural heating when designing new homes or extensions.
- Clean and efficient operation of existing domestic heating fires, by using dry wood, starting the fire quickly, and maintaining a hot, clean-burning fire.
- Don’t dampen down fires overnight, as the smoke build up inside and outside is unhealthy.
- Where possible, upgrade to efficient, cleaner-burning appliances that meet National Environment Standards or better (pellet burners are very clean burning), or to alternatives such as gas or electric heating (especially efficient heat pumps)
At work and outdoors
- Manage industrial discharges to air according to your resource consents and best practice.
- Follow manufacturers’ and best practice procedures when using agrichemical sprays.
- Take care with outdoor fires to have a hot, efficient fire and never use accelerants like tyres or waste oil (these are now prohibited under the National Environmental Standards).
- Adopt reduced tillage practices when cropping.