Air Quality
Abstract
Air quality planning is needed to maintain and, in some areas, enhance the life-supporting capacity of the air and to avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse effects resulting from poor air quality on the environment. Adverse effects on air quality can occur at a global, regional and local level and result from a variety of factors. This guidance note focuses on how air quality can be managed under the RMA.
This guidance note:
- outlines the adverse effects of poor air quality on human health and the wider environment
- provides a background to air quality management in New Zealand, including the role of the national environmental standards in managing air quality
- clarifies the functions of regional councils and territorial authorities in managing air quality
- helps regional councils work towards meeting the requirements of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality
- identifies methods to manage the regional and local effects of air emissions under the Resource Management Act 1991, including land transport
- provides best practice examples of managing activities that may generate poor air quality
- provides other information sources.
Guidance note
Introduction
Managing activities that can have an adverse effect on air quality is a complex issue. This is primarily due to the multiple factors that result in poor air quality, many of which are not directly controlled through the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The government has a series of initiatives underway to address air pollution nationwide. Local authorities are also working to improve air quality in each region. This guidance note focuses on how air quality can be managed under the RMA.
Air quality management under the RMA is directly impacted by:
- the need for regional councils to achieve compliance with the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality, and
- the different functions regional councils and territorial authorities have in managing air quality effects, including their role in respect of greenhouse gas emissions.
Air quality - issues and effects
Poor air quality can adversely affect human health. Air pollution further degrades the wider environment and reduces amenity. The main source of air pollution nationally is home heating, with transport being the primary source in Auckland.
Long-term exposure to air pollutants can result in premature death in humans, estimated in 2007 at 1,100 deaths per annum. The cost of air pollution is estimated to be around $1.1 billion per annum. More information on the effects of air pollution on human health can be found in the HAPINZ report. Air pollution also adversely affects the wider environment, and in particular, can have significant adverse effects on ecosystems, atmospheric visibility and built structures.
See themes for air quality issue identification and the air we breathe for more information on the adverse effects of air pollution.
The legislative context and background
There have been major changes in regulation of air pollution over the past two decades. Before the introduction of the RMA, air pollution was managed under the Clean Air Act 1972 through the control of emissions at source. At that time:
- there were no comprehensive air quality plans to deal, for example, with transport and domestic emissions (although local responses were possible, eg, the Christchurch Clean Air Zone Orders 1977 and 1984)
- the Health Act was used to deal with health effects and nuisances, eg, odour and domestic fires
- ambient air quality monitoring was minimal
- district schemes (plans) used zoning and activity classification to control the industrial uses, often relying on the Clean Air Act schedules for guidance on levels of emissions.
The RMA introduced a major change to regulating air pollution in New Zealand. The RMA requires an air quality management approach that involves measuring the state of the air and assessing the influence of pressures on air quality. Although the Clean Air Act 1972, which focused on controlling air emissions at source, was repealed, its provisions formed the basis of transitional regional plans under ss.368 and 369 of the RMA.
The first round of regional air quality plans prepared by regional councils were generally limited in scope, formulated with insufficient information and based on an assumption that air quality was good. This was largely due to the following reasons:
- air quality was a new function for regional councils
- very little monitoring information on air quality was available
- expertise was thinly spread as it had previously been centralised in the Department of Health
- many of the first RMA plans were intermediary, principally because s.418, which provided for existing permitted activities, was expiring (although this was later changed by amendment).
Regional council and territorial authority functions for air quality under the RMA
The primary responsibility for managing air quality under the RMA lies with regional councils (and unitary authorities). Along with managing air quality, regional councils also have a role in respect of the effects of climate change that can have an impact on air quality. However, territorial authorities have a responsibility to manage the effects of land use and subdivision, which can also impact on air quality. Both regional councils and territorial authorities also have particular requirements under the National Environmental Standard for Air Quality.
Integration of regional council and territorial authority roles
The different functions of regional councils and territorial authorities may cause tensions when managing air quality, such as allowing incompatible activities to be situated in proximity, for example consenting residential housing alongside existing wastewater treatment plants. To effectively manage air quality, relationships need to be managed and roles integrated.
The National Environmental Standards for Air Quality require regional and district plans to now 'give effect to ' any national policy statement and for regional policy statements and district plans to not be inconsistent with the relevant regional plan. It is now therefore more important for regional policy statements to provide clear direction on how the air quality issues of the region are to be managed. Equally, it is critical that there is effective engagement between regional councils and territorial authorities when plans are being reviewed and prepared. See the Plan Development guidance notes for more information.
Developing good dialogue and partnership agreements are the best means of ensuring clarity of roles and responsibilities. These may be formalised through the regional policy statement, regional plans, delegations or negotiated memorandums of understanding. Refer to the Environment Waikato Best Practice example.
The integrated management of land use and transport activities that may result in adverse effects on air quality is also essential to meet the requirements of the air standards. This is critical because airsheds that exceed the fine particle standard could face significant constraints on development.
Territorial authorities and/or requiring authorities should now be considering the relationship of the Relationship of the National Environmental Standards for Air Pollutants with Plans, Designations and Resource Consents in respect of any notices of requirements or resource consent applications.
National environmental standards
The Resource Management (National Environmental Standards Relating to Certain Air Pollutants, Dioxins and Other Toxics) Regulations 2004 are national environmental standards (NES) promulgated under ss.43 and 44 of the RMA. The National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (air standards) were gazetted in October 2004 and are designed to protect public health and the environment by setting concentration limits for clear air, regulating or prohibiting certain activities that pollute the air and imposing air quality monitoring and reporting requirements on regional councils. There are 14 standards contained within the air standards.
The air standards have a significant impact on air quality planning. While there is no explicit need for regional councils (including unitary authorities) to review their regional plans to bring them in line with the air standards, given the number of areas that exceed the ambient standards, most councils will need to implement policies and rules to improve air quality in order to comply. Therefore, plan changes and / or reviews will be needed.
One of the first requirements of the air standards was for regional councils (including unitary authorities) to identify areas where air quality is either likely to or known to exceed the air standards; these areas are known as airsheds. As of January 2008, there are 69 gazetted airsheds. Of these, approximately 30 are likely to exceed the ambient concentration limits in Schedule 1 of the air standards. Because they exceed the air standards (or are likely to), these airsheds face restrictions on the granting of resource consents.
Relationship of the Air Standards with Plans, designations and Resource Consents
Sections 43B and 43D of the RMA set out the relationship between the air standards, rules in plans, designations and resource consents.
See the Updated Users Guide to the regulations, the Frequently Asked Questions on the National Air Standards and the Air Quality Standard pages on the Ministry for the Environment website for more information.
Regional air quality planning
The plan-development guidance notes provide an overview and description of the key steps in development of plan provisions. The following sections provide further guidance on air quality planning.
Information gathering
The first step is to obtain a clear understanding of:
- the current (and historical) state of the environment, and
- the pressures that may affect air quality.
Information requirements to effectively manage ambient air quality
A comprehensive framework for managing ambient air quality will include many elements.
The ability to source suitable data to characterise the state of the environment will need to be considered against each of the elements of an air quality management framework.
The extent of data required will depend on whether relevant standards/guidelines are likely to be exceeded, as well as the size and complexity of the airshed or air quality management area. See the Good Practice Guide for Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management on the Ministry for the Environment's website for more information on establishing an air quality monitoring network.
Once the current state of ambient air quality is understood, it is possible to estimate the future state of air quality for a given area. Air quality projections are needed to determine whether relevant standards are likely to be met in future, and if not, what emissions mitigation and/or activity management measures will be required to meet them or to test the effectiveness of different policy options. These estimates may be based on emissions inventories, predictive models and desktop analysis.
Information for managing localised air quality issues and amenity effects
Sources of information on localised air quality issues and amenity effects will include:
- council staff observations
- air quality monitoring data, including visibility monitoring
- public complaints
- public consultation and perceptions, including consultation with tangata whenua.
Cross-boundary issues
The ability of a regional council to manage air quality can be affected by cross boundary issues, which can arise between:
- districts within a region, eg, reduced ambient air quality in one district affecting another
- land and coast, eg, emissions from ships
- regions, eg, inconsistent policies such as for burning vegetation or home heating controls
- the region and the rest of New Zealand, e.g. consistency of ambient air monitoring data collection
- countries, eg, smoke from Australian bushfires.
The importance of identifying and managing cross-boundary issues has been highlighted through the air standards, specifically the introduction of airsheds as the fundamental areas of air quality management. While airsheds are generally aligned to geophysical areas this is not always the case. For instance, the boundary between Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council is not based on geophysical criteria and air pollution can readily cross this boundary from one jurisdiction to the other. See the Nelson City Council Best Practice example for managing cross-boundary effects.
Developing ambient air quality targets
All regional councils have plans that include either air quality targets, objectives and/or goals. In any case, the ambient air quality standards provide baseline ambient air quality protection. The National Environmental Standards Users Guide provides a plain English outline of what the regulations mean, and suggestions on how they might be implemented. Section 3.10 of the Users Guide provides guidance on suggested policy responses in airsheds that exceed the standards. See the Nelson City Council Best Practice example.
For pollutants (and time averaging periods) not covered by the standards, the Ambient Air Quality Guidelines provide the minimum requirements for outdoor air quality to protect human health and the environment. Section 3.3 of the guidelines provides a framework for using the air quality guidelines and establishing regional ambient air quality criteria. The guidelines also recommend when a regional council should take or consider taking action.
Action must be taken to improve air quality if:
- air quality exceeds national ambient standards, or
- air quality exceeds the ambient air quality guidelines.
Actions should be considered to maintain or reduce emissions if:
- air quality exceeds 66 percent of the standards or guidelines. In this situation it may be necessary to develop policies to curb a potential upward trend, or to enhance air quality, depending on the circumstances, local community aspirations and the costs and benefits of possible actions.
A number of regions have developed regional targets in accordance with this framework, which are more stringent than the air standards and/or the Ambient Air Quality Guidelines. These targets are intended to ensure air quality is maintained in areas where it does not breach the guidelines, and improved in areas where it does breach, or is close to breaching the guidelines. These regional targets take precedence over the air standards and guidelines.
Objectives
Objectives should express the overall aim of how the council proposes to manage air quality and address both air quality management areas and local issues.
- Where air quality is cleaner than the relevant standard, guideline or target, the objective should aim to maintain that quality, or even improve it, if necessary.
- Where air quality is degraded, the objective should include a commitment to its improvement.
Regional plans generally include objectives for managing ambient air quality as well as localised air quality effects eg, dust, odour and agrichemical spray drift. The Ministry for the Environment's good practice guides include background information and guidance for managing odour and dust. See the Auckland Regional Council Best Practice example for managing air quality through air quality management areas.
Policies
Policies should describe how air quality objectives are to be achieved and guide decision-making. They should aim to:
- achieve the emissions reductions required to meet the air standards, target or guideline values where they are breached
- minimise adverse health effects
- provide direction to territorial authorities on what matters should be managed through their district plans.
Policies could include:
- restricting the installation of solid fuel burners for home heating
- promoting measures to address motor vehicle exhaust emissions
- avoiding adverse effects from agrichemical spray drift. See the Environment Canterbury Best Practice example
- applying ambient air quality targets
- restricting outdoor burning.
Rules
A regional plan may include rules to implement the policies, and can include rules to allocate the capacity of air to assimilate a discharge of a contaminant (s.30(1)(fa)(iv)).
Rules for managing air quality could include:
- Rules that prohibit activities, require resource consent or specify standards. See the Nelson City Council Best Practice example on home heating.
- A catch-all rule for industrial and trade premises that are not addressed elsewhere in the plan. See the Environment Waikato Best Practice example.
- Rules requiring buffer zones and separation distances. See the Auckland Regional Council Best Practice example.
- Rules requiring adoption of the best practicable option approach. See the Environment Waikato and Northland Regional Council Best Practice examples.
- Rules to manage the potential cumulative effect resulting from discharges, which when taken individually are minor, but may have significant cumulative effects.
Effective rules should:
- Support any subjective terms with clear policies, and where necessary, include either guidance or a definition to restrict interpretation. For example, if no objectionable odour or dust is included as a standard, the plan should identify the assessment criteria and the process used to determine if an air discharge is objectionable.
- Be cross-referenced both within the plan and to other plans to avoid repetition or conflict. Rules about waste management, land use or water discharge can contain conditions related to effects on air quality, and may reduce the need for separate rules.
- Set clear and definitive thresholds or levels where possible, such as that combustion processes over 10 MW are a discretionary activity or using process related conditions.
Methods (optional)
A regional plan may also include methods, other than rules, to implement policies.
Using methods other than rules may be appropriate for:
- some industrial discharges, eg, best practice guidance, responding to complaints
- outdoor burning, eg, providing information and best practice guidance, use of bylaws. See the Tasman District Council Best Practice example
- home heating (in some regions), eg, providing information, use of economic instruments, responding to complaints. See the Nelson City Council Best Practice example
- transport sources, eg, advocacy to improve use and maintenance of vehicles, and transport planning to lower emissions from vehicles and to reduce congestion.
Environmental results expected
A regional plan may state the environmental results expected to be achieved from the plan. These can include indicators or measures to assess progress towards achieving the plan 's air quality objectives.
Indicators or measures could include, for example:
- ambient particulate (PM 10 ) concentrations do not exceed national ambient standard by 2013
- a 50% reduction in the number of complaints relating to air quality by a certain date, and/or
- ambient air quality remains within regional criteria.
Monitoring and review
Both monitoring and reviewing plan effectiveness is an important component of managing air quality effects, and is particularly important when working towards compliance with the air standards. A council should develop and implement a clear air quality monitoring strategy to measure progress against air quality objectives and compliance with the air standards.
See the Nelson City Council Best Practice example of monitoring provisions and the Greater Wellington Regional Council Best Practice example of a monitoring strategy.
The 'monitoring and reporting one-stop-shop' provides general information on environmental monitoring and reporting under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) and other relevant legislation.
Ambient air quality monitoring
Ambient air quality monitoring is the primary means of assessing compliance with ambient air quality standards, guidelines and targets. The Ambient Air Quality Guidelines and the Good Practice Guide for Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management provide information on ambient air quality monitoring programme design.
Regulation 15 of the air standards requires councils to monitor air quality in airsheds where it is likely the standard will be breached. The monitoring must be carried out:
- where people are likely to be exposed, and
- at the 'worst' location, or where the 'worst' frequency of exceedence is likely.
Monitoring gaps and priorities to achieve compliance with these requirements have been identified in the NIWA report The State of the PM10 Monitoring Network within NES Airsheds: Benchmark Year - 2006. The users guide includes further guidance on the ambient monitoring requirements of the air standards.
Information requirements for resource consents
A regional plan may state the information to be included with an application for resource consent.
The draft good practice guide for assessing discharges to air from industry provides detailed guidance on the information requirements for an assessment of effects for discharges from industrial sources.
See the Auckland Regional Council and Canterbury Regional Council Best Practice examples for information requirements.
District air quality planning
While a territorial authority 's responsibilities for air quality management are indirect, the adverse effects on air quality resulting from emissions from industry, intensive farming, agrichemical spray drift, motor vehicles and other sources of pollution can be partly managed through district plan provisions.
Identification of issues - district plan
Specific issues that territorial authorities should consider are:
- sensitivity and reverse sensitivity of land uses
- the air quality effects of land transport
- any functions for air quality that have been transferred to them under s33 of the RMA. See the Delegations and Transfers Guidance Note and the Auckland Regional Council Best Practice example.
Responding to issues - district plan
District plans include objectives, policies and rules to manage the effects of land use and transport on the environment, which can include effects on air quality.
When developing district plans, territorial authorities need to consider the role of regional councils in managing air discharge matters. Territorial authorities should work with the regional council to address air quality issues identified in the regional policy statement or regional plan. The integration of regional council and territorial authority roles is critical for effective air quality management. See the Waitakere City Council Best Practice example.
Rules in a district plan could include requiring buffer zones and separation distances to manage air quality effects that are qualitative in nature (such as odour) and sensitivity and reverse sensitivity effects. Some district plans have integrated air quality issues into other parts of the plan. Sensitivity and reverse sensitivity of land uses are often considered with other rural or industrial amenity issues, and the air quality effects of transport with other transport issues.
See the Auckland City Council, New Plymouth District Council and Franklin District Council Best Practice examples.
A territorial authority will also need to consider the potential impacts of the air standards on any outline plan and new notice of requirement. A designation may include conditions relating to air quality and the air standards.
Information requirements for resource consents - district plan
Where air quality is a relevant issue, assessment criteria should require the following matters to be addressed:
- the suitability of the site and the surrounding environment for the proposed activity
- the impact on amenity values
- the prevention of nuisance
- the impact on the road, transport networks and surrounding environment
- the risk and impact of potential pollution insofar as it may affect other land uses.
A land-use consent can include conditions relating to the air standards, insofar as it is relevant to the functions of the territorial authority and the application.
Managing the air quality effects of land transport
Land transport can have significant adverse effects on air quality, and is the primary source of air pollution within Auckland. See Auckland Air Emissions and Health Effects of Motor Vehicle Emissions for more information.
There are many complex technical factors influencing vehicle emissions and their impact on air quality. Examples of these factors include:
- vehicle fleet composition
- vehicle technology and fuel standards
- vehicle maintenance
- speed and level of service
- road design.
While regional councils and territorial authorities have no direct control over most of these factors, the implications of regional and district planning on land-use patterns, transport and therefore air quality needs to be considered. The Draft Good Practice Guide on Assessing Discharges to Air from Land Transport provides clear, comprehensive guidance on considering air quality impacts from land transport.
The air quality effects of land transport should be managed as part of an overall plan to reduce the impacts of transport on human health and the environment. Any policy must be carefully integrated with existing or proposed policies to provide consistency and transparency. This is essential for long term, sustainable transport. The Land Transport Guidance Note and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment 's report The Cities and Their People: New Zealand 's Urban Environment provide more information on the importance of integrating land use and transport planning.
Some regional plans include specific policies requiring assessment of transport projects. Many regional policy statements, regional plans and district plans already include qualitative provisions requiring the 'maintenance or enhancement of air quality' be considered in RMA decision-making. The relationship between land transport and air quality was an important consideration in the notice of requirement for a designation by Transit New Zealand in Nelson (Southern Link Road) and the Manukau City Council land-use consent decision.
In general, the adverse effects of transport emissions are reduced where motor vehicle travel is reduced and/or the level of public transport service is improved. District plan provisions to achieve these broader objectives are discussed in the Land Transport Guidance Note.
Some options for managing adverse effects on air quality arising from land transport are:
- including air quality as an assessment criterion in district plan rules
- location policies, such as separating sensitive activities from possible pollution hotspots. For example pollution hotspots may occur close to:
- busy roads
- congested areas
- busy intersections
- roads with a high proportion of heavy diesel vehicles
- areas with poor dispersion (eg, valleys)
- urban design controls
- strategic land-use planning.
See the Nelson City Council, Manukau City Council and Auckland Regional Council Best Practice examples on managing air quality effects from transport.
The Good Practice Guide for Assessing Discharges to Air from Land Transport includes detailed guidance on how to identify and assess the effects of potential pollution hotspots. The guide also provides examples and discussion of mitigation options.
Chapter 8 of the Good Practice Guide for Assessing Discharges to Air from Land Transport includes guidance on the evaluation of community air pollution effects. This methodology could be utilised to quantify and assess the likely benefits of any specific option.
Best practice examples
Plan Provisions to meet the NES requirements
Managing Agrichemical Spray Drift
Buffer Zones and Separation Distances
Information Requirements for Resource Consents
District Plan / Regional Plan Integration
Methods to Manage Air Quality Effects from Transport
RMA provisions
The sections of the RMA with particular relevance for a regional air plan or district plan in relation to effects on air are:
Section 2 Interpretation
Sections 5, 6, 7 Purpose and principles
Section 15 Discharge of contaminants into environment
Section 17 Duty to avoid, remedy, or mitigate adverse effects
Section 30 Functions of regional councils under this Act
Section 31 Functions of territorial authorities under this Act
Section 32 Quantitative analysis to support certain planning measures
Section 33 Transfer of powers
Sections 43, 43A - 43G
National environmental standards
Section 70 Rules about discharges
Section 128 Circumstances when consent conditions can be reviewed
Section 418 Certain existing permitted uses may continue.
Case law
There are numerous resource consents and prosecutions cases relating to air quality. Much less case law is available on policy and plan provisions for managing air quality.
Plan provisions
Bodle v Northland Regional Council [2005] A090/05. This case involved consideration of suitable regional plan provisions to manage the potential adverse effects of agrichemical spray drift. The Court held that the internalisation of effects is only one possible method of achieving sustainable management of natural and physical resources, and "that to impose mandatory buffer zones, without good reason, and in the light of the evidence that they would be difficult to manage and enforce, arbitrary, and even on occasion inadequate to offer protection to neighbouring properties, that they would be contrary to the purpose of the Act in section 5 ..."
Suburban Estates Ltd & Muir Park Corporate Ltd v Christchurch City Council [2001] C217/01. This case involved proposed new plan provisions relating to urban growth boundaries. The regional council had challenged the provisions on a number of fronts, including potential adverse effects resulting from vehicle emissions to air. The Court concluded that: the greenhouse warming effect is real and potentially alarming; the effects of allowing all the rezoning on greenhouse gas emissions are so small that they cannot be adequately measured; Christchurch has major air pollution problems, but most are caused by solid fuel burning; and that congestion on Christchurch's roads does add to local air pollution, but how harmful that is depends on where the pollution occurs (it becomes a local transport corridor issue).
Resource consents and designations
Sugre, JM & DM & Sadler. TR & JA v Selwyn District Council [2004] C043/04. This case involved the consideration of potential reverse sensitivity effects on an existing piggery generating odour resulting from the establishment of a restaurant within the nearby vicinity. The Court held that there was a high prospect for reverse sensitivity, and required the applicant for the restaurant to undertake several odour mitigation measures as conditions of consent.
Nelson Intermediate School v Transit NZ [2004] C35/2004. This case related to a notice of requirement for a new road. One of the reasons for appeal related to the potential impacts of a new road on air quality. The Court concluded there was already clear evidence of a serious health risk within the valley from air pollutants. Transit proposed to keep the level of pollution at its current level by reducing the emissions of wood fire burning into the catchment and had entered into contracts with a number of landowners living in and around the valley to replace existing wood burners with alternative low emission systems. However, the Court held that due to the high level of pollution currently in the valley, that an improvement was needed to pollution levels to meet the purpose of sustainable management, rather than just keeping them at existing levels. The Court was unable to conclude that the effects of the increase in the diesel chemicals could have been adequately avoided, remedied or mitigated and that the removal of wood smoke was not equivalent to diesel.
Waikato Environmental Protection Society Inc v Waikato Regional Council [2007] W60/07. This case involved an appeal to the grant of a resource consent for the expansion of a mushroom composting factory. The Court concluded that the odours emanating from the site had an adverse effect on neighbours and that the odours were discernibly different from other rural odours generated in the area. The Court further considered that the odours had a cumulative effect that was both offensive and objectionable when assessed from the standpoint of ordinary reasonable persons. The consent was therefore declined.
Further case law on objectionable effects is available in the Good Practice Guide for Assessing and Managing Odour in New Zealand and the Good Practice Guide for Assessing and Managing the Environmental Effects of Dust Emission.
Related guidance notes
The following guidance notes are related:
- Frequently asked questions on the national environmental standards for air quality
- Land transport
- Guidance on the plan development process
- S32 - methods of implementation
- Monitoring and reporting one stop shop.
Work in progress
Central government programmes
Current work is listed on www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/air/programme/.
Key programmes include:
- the Warm Homes project
- the organochlorines, hazardous waste, environmental performance indicators and used oil management programmes
- the reducing vehicle emissions programme
- the air quality indicators programme.
Research
Protecting New Zealand 's clean air is a FRST funded research programme. The outcome sought by this research is that "local authorities meet current and future air quality standards, through access to science information and tools that determine the current state of their air quality, identify mitigation options and monitor their implementation and the resulting air quality".
Air Quality Working Group
The Air Quality Working Group comprises air quality practitioners from all regional and unitary and some territorial councils. They meet twice a year to discuss good practice in air quality management, research and policy developments. The meetings are also a good opportunity to share resources, such as air quality monitors, and arrange secondments etc. Most meetings include specific presentations on current topics in order to share expertise. To join the air quality working group, contact the Ministry for the Environment's Air team.
Relevant publications
The Ministry for the Environment's air publications list includes an extensive range of technical reports, guidelines and good practice guides.
There are a number of other useful publications available, under the following themes:
Health effects of air pollution
Current challenges in practice
The following topics are some of the current challenges in practice:-
Developing more sophisticated approaches to engaging with people and thereby encouraging changes in behaviour.
Historically, air pollution control was mainly about industry. It now includes domestic heating and motor vehicles. As any methods to reduce emissions from domestic heating and vehicles will affect the whole community, the level of engagement needs to be wide. This may be addressed in part as Council's are required to advertise in local papers when ambient air quality exceeds specified limits.
Incorporating more advanced rules and policies on vehicle emissions into regional and district plans.
Vehicle emissions are often ignored in district and regional planning because central government is responsible for control of vehicle standards. However, there is also clearly a role for district and regional planning in managing vehicle emissions, given the potential impacts on air quality. Therefore, a coordinated approach between central and local government is necessary to resolve many of the issues associated with transport, air quality being just one of these.
Determining the starting points for straight and curved line paths in designated airsheds .
There is considerable flexibility and uncertainty in how regional councils calculate starting points for the straight line path, and there are serious implications if the council is either too optimistic or too pessimistic. This is discussed in some detail in the regional council discussion document on developing straight and curved line paths.
Increasing emphasis on the locations and types of air quality monitors, especially those for PM 10 .
The national environmental standard has introduced specific monitoring and reporting requirements. This will increase public awareness and Council's accountability for air quality monitoring. There are some significant gaps and areas for improvement in the PM10 monitoring network as discussed in the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) report The State of the PM10 Monitoring Network within NES Airsheds.
Identifying s ustainability trade offs between local air quality mitigation measures and global greenhouse gas emissions effects.
There are synergies and potentially trade offs between local air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. These need to be carefully considered so win-win policies are developed. One example of a trade-off is the potential increase in natural gas and electricity consumption as wood burning (for heating) is discouraged.
Managing indoor air quality.
There is no agency responsible for non-workplace indoor air quality. This leaves a significant gap for an issue where the effects of air pollutants can be significantly greater than the effects of outdoor exposures, eg, unflued heating appliances.
Acknowledgements and editorial comments
This guidance note was prepared by Deborah Ryan, Sinclair Knight Merz and added to the Quality Planning website in July 2002 with editorial input from Phil Gurnsey, Ministry for the Environment, as part of the editorial panel. It was revised and updated by Jayne Metcalfe, Endpoint, in March 2007 and finalised by Louise Wickham, Ministry for the Environment and Gina Sweetman, Sweetman Planning Services Ltd, in January 2008. The Ministry for the Environment would also like to thank the following people for their input into the revision and updating of this guidance note:
- Robert Schofield, Boffa Miskell Ltd
- Jan Crawford, Planning Consultants Ltd
- Paul Baynham, Northland Regional Council.
