Mount Maunganui industrial air quality

We contract an independent provider to operate 11 air monitors in the industrial area where pollution is most concentrated. These monitors are running 24/7 and check for a range of pollutants like fine dust, hydrogen sulfide and sulphur dioxide. You can access this data online at anytime.

To assess air quality, we measure the concentration of specific air pollutants that have known health impacts, and compare these to:

• the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality
• the National Ambient Air Quality Guidelines
• our Regional Air Plan.

Since we expanded our network of monitors from 4 to 11 in November 2018, we have detected exceedances of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality for the following pollutants.

Any exceedance of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality is unacceptable, and all incidences are investigated. The nature of an investigation will depend on the pollutant, circumstances, and relevant national and regional rules. But it will likely include reviewing monitoring data, camera footage, weather conditions and meeting with potential polluters. 

These extensive data sets enabled us to ask the Ministry for the Environment to designate the Mount Maunganui industrial area as a separate airshed. This tool is specific to fine dust and allows us to introduce specific rules to help address and manage the problem.

This also means a line is drawn in the sand and new resource consent applications for activities wanting to discharge fine dust as part of their activity must be declined. Because more than one exceedance was recorded for fine dust in the 12 months prior to our request being processed, the Mount Airshed was classified as ‘polluted’ when it was established on 28 November 2019.

Our monitoring shows that the dust that settles in this area, and basically all urban areas, is a mix of both natural and man-made sources. Natural sources include sea spray and soil particles. Man-made sources are more varied and include industrial activities like fertiliser or concrete manufacturers and dry bulk material distributors such as those who distribute palm kernel. We also pick up particles from vehicles such as from the exhaust, tyre and brake wear, and emissions from shipping or rail.

Through our Regional Air Plan and the resource consent process we can put controls in place around some of these activities but many, like vehicle or shipping emissions, and some Port based activities like the movement and loading of logs, we cannot.

One of the dustier activities that takes place in the Mount industrial area is the transportation and distribution of dry stock food - usually palm kernel, grains and tapioca. These products arrive by ship, are unloaded into trucks, and transported to  distribution warehouses before being trucked around the North Island.

One of New Zealand’s largest distribution warehouses is located on De Havilland Way, adjacent to hangers, workplaces and a small number of provate residences. People who work and live in this area are highly concerned about the health effects from the fine dust becoming air borne.  We have been working with this community and the distributors since 2014 to monitor the problem, find solutions and strengthen rules.  

Addressing air quality issues at a location like De Havilland Way, where residential and industrial buildings co-exist on a single title, is complex. Current rules are focused on addressing issues ‘beyond the boundary’, however we are looking to introduce new air management rules which would mean a consent is required for large scale handling of bulk solid materials that can create dust nuisance.

Regional Council is just one part of the solution, but dust is a big focus for the team who work in this space and they have several tools to help them address this.

• We have a Regional Air Plan to set rules that are consistent with national requirements. We’re about to update this plan through Plan Change 18. Targeted rules will be proposed which aim to better control dust in this area. More information will be provided on this process when the Government have confirmed the National Environment Standards for Air Quality review.
• In many cases, people need a resource consent to discharge things like dust and it’s through these consents that we can set specific conditions requiring dust to be reduced. When consents expire, and applicants reapply, we can take a fresh look at the activity and factor in the best available information at the time. With technology constantly improving, the council having more access to quality data and the Mount industrial area now a designated polluted airshed, this can mean significant improvements are made.
• We carry out enforcement action when people break the rules or don’t comply with their consent conditions. This includes imposing fines and undertaking prosecutions.

A lot of good things are happening in the Mount industrial area, with many business sealing exposed surfaces, dust fences being installed and some upgrading their plants as technology improves. We are seeing the effect of this in our monitoring with less exceedances being recorded. However, some of this good work is being partially offset by an increase in all activity throughout the entire mount industrial zone.