Air Quality MonitoringAroturuki kounga hau takiwā

Air Quality

We have four airsheds in Hawke’s Bay; Hastings, Napier, Awatoto and Whirinaki.  The Hastings and Napier airsheds are split into two zones, Hastings 1 and Hastings 2, and Napier 1 and Napier 2. Rules for residential woodburners apply to Hastings and Napier 1 airsheds. 

The rules for Hastings and Napier 2 airsheds apply to the wider area, and are focused on outdoor burning. You can find the rules for outdoor burning here.

The Council monitors PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations, as well as meteorological variables (e.g. wind speed, wind direction, temperature etc.) all year round at our telemetered air quality sites. The 10 minute and 24 hour averaged concentrations are updated daily from our air quality sites below:

• Marewa Park (Napier)
• St John’s College (Hastings)
• Awatoto (coastal industrial)

PM10 is the Particulate Matter smaller than 10 microns in diameter.  PM2.5 comprises particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter and is a subset of PM10. PM2.5 particles can be inhaled deeper into the respiratory system than larger particles and have been found to have more significant health consequences. Winter is generally when we see PM measurements increase because of increased burning combined with weather conditions that tend to trap the pollution near ground-level.

Watch our video of our team talking about how we work with the community to improve air quality in Hawke's Bay.