At its worst, Rotorua had the worst winter air pollution
in the country.
Now, in a feat some did not think
possible, as of today its airshed has officially lost that
polluted status.
It is a “significant day”,
showing how far things have come in the 20 years the airshed
has been in place.
Estimated early deaths caused by
air pollution halved in a decade, as millions of dollars
were loaned to replace thousands of old, smoky fireplaces
with cleaner heating.
The city’s continued high
reliance on wood burners, however, may create a challenge if
air quality standards tighten as expected.
The Rotorua
airshed was first gazetted in 2005 to enable monitoring and
introduce rules to help improve air quality amid pollution
concerns.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is
required to monitor air quality and manage pollution to
national standards.
These include for PM10 – small
particulate matter, such as in smoke, which can be
inhaled.
If the airshed of a geographical area exceeds
the national standard limit for PM10 more than once a year
in a five-year period, it is labelled polluted.
As of
today, Rotorua’s air quality has improved enough to lose
that designation.
Regional councillor Kevin Winters
was mayor when the Rotorua Lakes Council adopted the Rotorua
Air Quality Control Bylaw in 2010.
It introduced rules
to phase out the use of old and inefficient solid-fuel
burners in homes and ban open fires indoors.
Winters
said the bylaw decision was not unanimous, and some said
Rotorua could never lose that polluted label.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“It
was very controversial.”
A drive around areas such
as Western Heights, Pukehangi and Fordlands convinced
Winters to support it.
“It was like walking into a
room of smokers. It was choking.”
He viewed the past
15 years of work as a good example of collaboration between
councils.
He called Saturday’s milestone a
“significant day”.
Over the years, various
measures were introduced to combat winter air-quality
issues.
Loans and grants were given for cleaner
heating, an education campaign was launched, and compliance
efforts were strengthened.
About 400 grants worth a
total of $735,000 were approved for insulation and to
replace heating and remove solid burners since 2014. Grants
are still available under the criteria.
Between 2010
and 2021, about $11 million was lent to help residents buy
cleaner heating options and insulation, funded by general
and targeted rates. The latter ended a few years
ago.
A regional council spokesperson said the airshed
introduction enabled it to start gathering “real data”
to understand the air pollution in Rotorua.
“It was
the monitoring that followed that confirmed Rotorua had a
winter-time air quality issue”.
The Rotorua Air
Quality Action Plan was introduced in 2008, a year that
recorded 37 exceedances. The bylaws followed in 2010, then
in 2020, Plan Change 13 (Air Quality) banned using all
non-complying solid burners.
In recent years, it has
used an $8270 infrared camera to detect properties using
illegal burners.
Going forward, however, the change in
Rotorua’s pollution status could be up in the air, with
new standards forecast.
The spokesperson said research
increasingly highlighted the ongoing negative health impacts
associated with poor air quality.
“New rules
focusing on even smaller particles [PM2.5] are also on the
horizon, which will shift the goal posts further
out.”
This could prove a challenge for Rotorua,
which still had high levels of wood burning for
heating.
Wood smoke particles are about 90%
PM2.5.
In a report, senior planner Elsa Weir said
intervention would be needed to meet potential new targets
for both PM10 and PM2.5.
The council was waiting on
government direction as to when the standards would be
updated. It expected this to be after resource management
system changes and not within the current Government’s
term.
The regional council’s other Rotorua
councillor, Lyall Thurston, said while the airshed milestone
marked “significant progress”, there was still work to
do.
He said collective change made an impact “for
the betterment of all Rotorua residents and
visitors”.
Thurston acknowledged other Rotorua Air
Quality Working Group members, including Rotorua Lakes
Council, Kāinga Ora and medical officers of
health.
Toi Te Ora Public Health Medical Officer of
Health Dr Gregory Evans in 2023 told district councillors
that air pollution affected people of all ages, but some
were more vulnerable.
Short-term examples included
exacerbating asthma. Longer term, accumulated exposure could
cause cardiovascular disease, and some of the pollutants
were known carcinogens.
A study released in 2022 found
that air pollution generated by humans in 2016 resulted in
3300 premature adult deaths in New Zealand.
He said
estimates based on that study’s health effects model found
there were 40 early adult deaths in the Rotorua airshed in
2009 as a result of domestic fire-produced air
pollution.
The estimate for 2022 was 19.
The
number of years of lives lost reduced from 596 to 246, while
restricted activity days were down from 53,000 to
20,000.
The annual social cost of domestic fires had
decreased from an estimated $190.9 million to
$78.7m.
© Scoop Media
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.