Air Quality, Our Health and Economic Development

Introduction

For most of the year, the air quality in Tokoroa is good.  However, wood burners in the winter months can cause some problems.  Through an air monitoring station in Billah Street, Environment Waikato measures the amount of small particles in the air.  These small particles are too small to see and are small enough to breathe in.

Each year, these small particles exceed acceptable levels up to has many as 10 to 20 days a year.  This happens in winter during cold, calm days.  Pictured below is Tokoroa town taken at 5.30pm on a clear cold evening in mid-winter – this smog contains a higher percentage of small particles than is acceptable.

Looking Through the Smoke

Other sources such as industry and motor vehicles do add to the air pollution problem but are not the main problem.  The graph below shows a typical annual snapshot of small particle emissions in Tokoroa from January to December.  Ask yourself the questions underneath:

• Where does the graph spike?
• What time of year is this?
• Do vehicle exhaust fumes increase in winter months?
• Are industries more active during winter months?
• What causes the spike?

The graph rises in late March and stays high until September/October.  There is only one conclusion - wood burners.

The next graph shows these small particles in the air on a typical winter’s day in Tokoroa.  The red line shows the amount of small particles begins to rise at around 5pm and increases suddenly until about 10pm/midnight, where it then falls rapidly and then rises swiftly from around 7am through to 10am.

Let’s map average families’ activities on top of that (green line).

• Evening time.  Start the fire.
• Bed around 10pm.
• Up again early morning, restarting the fire until mid-morning.

There is little doubt to the cause of the high levels.  It is not industry.  It is not vehicle emissions.  It is us keeping ourselves warm in the home… and there is nothing wrong with that, in fact, cold homes are not good for us either.

We can all learn to heat our homes better and with less of an impact on the quality of air we breathe.

Looking at the Details

These small particles (PM10) don’t just affect our environment, they affect our health too.  These tiny particles are less than 10 microns across, which is a fifth of the size of a human hair.  This means they are small enough to enter our lungs when we breathe.  PM10 can add to breathing problems.

Main effects include:

• stress on the lungs
• heart disease

Minor effects include:

• nose and throat inflammation
• infections
• making allergies worse

Such illness also has an affect on children’s school attendance and our ability to go to work.

There are some groups of people who are more at risk than others.  These include:

• Elderly (>65).
• People who already have lung and heart problems.
• Children, because their lungs are immature and they suffer more colds.

Remember: What we burn affects the air… the air we breathe affects our health…

More on PM10

PM10 also affects air by reducing visibility.  Less visibility:

• reduces safety
• views are not as attractive
• affects tourism

Wood is a cheap form of heating and burning dry wood is not the problem.  When people burn wet or recently felled (green) wood, the smoke is worse.  This affects everyone’s health.  Loss of income through sick days off work and health conditions that limit what work we can do are also significant.  The long term effect of poor health is expensive to families and to the country's health care bills.  It is cheaper to do the right thing by burning dry wood or not burning wood at all.

Because the small particle concentration in Tokoroa in winter exceeds the NES guideline there will be limitations put on industrial development unless this is corrected.  A resource consent for a new industry in Tokoroa will have to be declined if the industry has an air discharge that would add to the current levels.