New monitoring stations to address dust issues around Aerodrome Rd

New air monitoring stations about to go live in response to dust-related complaints around Aerodrome Rd. Photo / Supplied

Three new air monitoring stations around Aerodrome Rd in Mount Maunganui are about to go live in response to dust complaints in the area.

Bay of Regional Regional Council regulatory compliance manager Stephen Mellor said, since June 2017, the council's Pollution Hotline had fielded more than 50 calls about dust-related issues and they were working to address them.

"Air pollution is always tricky to isolate as it's often not visible and sudden changes in wind strength, direction and operator behaviour can make it challenging to capture evidence.

"We've invested considerable resource and commissioned two separate rounds of independent air quality monitoring to better understand the issues at Aerodrome Rd but to date no breach of our rules has been recorded," he said.

The council is hopeful new equipment, which can pick up previously undetectable tiny inhalable dust particles, will help it better understand the issue.

"Everyone wants clean air to breathe and we want the public to be confident they can do this in an area they work, live and play," Mellor said.

The National Environmental Standards for Air Quality set a guaranteed minimum level of health protection for all New Zealanders and the discharge of contaminants into air is controlled by the Regional Air Plan, under the Resource Management Act.

All data from the new monitoring stations will be shared with residents living on site, adjacent businesses, Toi Te Ora, WorkSafe and Tauranga City Council.

The regional council has also invested an additional $500,000 a year for the next three years to improve monitoring in the wider Mount Maunganui industrial area.

Once verified these results will be shared with the wider community in early 2019.