Taranaki region

With air discharges from industry and agriculture well regulated and no widespread change in the nature of regional emissions, there are no significant pressures on air quality in the region. Air quality data has been gathered and maintained for more than 20 years at up to 20 representative sites, including urban, industrial, rural, coastal and pristine areas. In general, monitoring locations are chosen because they have the most potential for adverse impacts as a result of surrounding land use. This gives a useful indication of the state of the region's air quality and whether there is any justification for further investigation using much more expensive techniques stipulated in the National Environmental Standards. Consistently good results from the Council’s air quality monitoring programme confirm that the screening approach is justified and cost-effective.
Most air emissions in Taranaki are diffuse and from natural sources - vegetation, land cover, farm animals and sea-spray drift. They also come from industry, homes and motor vehicles. Point-source discharges (from a single large source) are more obvious and generally come from industry and farms with housed livestock (such as piggeries and poultry sheds). The potential effects of air emissions range from amenity effects (such as haze, smoke, or offensive odours) to potential or actual negative impacts on human and ecosystem health.