Tēnā koutou,

Welcome to the latest Mount Maunganui air-shed update, providing the latest news and reporting from Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Mount Industrial area pollution prevention program.

If you have feedback, ideas or topics you would like to see covered in future editions of the newsletter please let us know via an email response.

Fine dust – PM10

Our investigations into PM10 exceedances have revealed that a single pollution source is seldom responsible, and that natural particulate sources, particularly sea salt spray under certain weather conditions, can also have an impact on what is picked up by some of our our air quality monitors.

Please note, five additional exceedances have been added to the total count for 2021-22. These were detected by an air monitor not managed by Toi Moana.  

Pollution Hotline

Odour continues to feature on calls through to the Pollution Hotline. There have been 14 calls received by our 24/7 hotline from 20 June to 14 August 2023 in relation to activities within the Mount industrial area. Of these, 12 related to air quality and 8 to odour.

Odour and pro-active monitoring

Council continues work on identifying the main sources of odours in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. Since November 2022 the compliance team have undertaken daily assessments at key locations to determine the strength of industrial odours which cause the greatest number of public complaints. Within the Mount Maunganui industrial area these include:

• Storage areas for palm kernel and other bulk stock foods.
• Cooking oil (can produce an offensive odour at times of production)
• Cooking of seafood stock and poor storage of waste food products.
• Sulphur dioxide discharges.
• Asphalt mix (primarily during production).
• Chemicals and resins associated with fibreglass pool manufacturing processes.
• Tank farms (can produce a strong odour when tank filling is being undertaken).

Now that key odour sources have been identified a future project will be to work with business operators to implement odour management plans, aiming to reduce the impact of odour discharges beyond property boundaries.

Air quality monitor reskin

Our most visible air quality monitor, located on the corner of Totara and Waimarie Street in the Mount Maunganui industrial area was reskinned with bright new graphics in early August.

Air Quality Working Party

The Air Quality Working Party met on 17 July, with representatives from Whareroa Marae, Tauranga Moana Fumigant Action Group, Priority One, Tauranga City Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Toi Te Ora, various Mount industries and Waka Kotahi present.

At this meeting, Toi te Ora Public Health Officer, Dr Jim Miller, presented the findings of an Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment for Mount Maunganui they had commissioned. The study found the impacts of chronic air pollution in the area can be estimated and the health impacts from PM10, PM2.5 and NO₂ are significant, with increased mortality, cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalisations, and restricted activity days. You can view the report here.

Toi te Ora also presented the findings of a Mount Maunganui Air Quality Monitoring Review 2022 report they had commissioned. This report is commissioned by Toi Te Ora every four years and summarises and reviews Toi Moana air quality monitoring data from the Mount Airshed. This latest report looks at 2019 through to 2022. The focus is on particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). You can view the report here.

The report concluded that monitoring data shows that ambient air quality in some parts of the Mount Airshed remains impacted by industry, port activities and traffic. However, there have been some notable reductions.

• There has been a significant decline (48%) in measured concentrations of PM₁₀ at Whareroa Marae. The results indicate that improvements to on-site practices are making a difference.
•  Annual PM₁₀ concentrations averaged over the seven monitoring locations in the Mount Maunganui Airshed have reduced by 15% since 2019. Annual levels of PM_2.5 measured at Totara Street have reduced by 35% over the last four years. Short-term levels of SO₂ have also reduced since 2019.
• The report also notes that the data indicates that short-term levels of SO₂ at Whareroa Marae and Tauranga Bridge Marina remain significantly influenced by emissions from the neighbouring fertiliser manufacturer.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 15 November.

Tauranga City Council's Let’s Talk Community Meeting

Earlier this month, Tauranga City Council Commissioners hosted a community meeting, the second of a series of meetings, to discuss the challenges that come with Tauranga being the fastest growing city in New Zealand. Understandably, air quality issues were raised by a number of attendees.

We wanted to acknowledge the concerns raised by those who attended the meeting and emphasise that Tauranga City Council commissioners and our Regional Council Councillors do work very closely on this issue. This includes working together on Tauranga City Council’s future planning documents like the Mount Industrial Planning Study and Mount to Arataki Spatial Plan as well as all our air related work. We also engage the community on this topic through the Mount Air Quality Working Party, which was set up in December 2020.

Consents under consideration

Tauranga Bridge Marina

A consent for the occupation of space in the Coastal Marine Area was granted to Tauranga Bridge Marina for a 35-year term in October 2021, by independent Commissioners. The hearing decision was appealed to the Environment Court. The matters of appeal were the consent duration and effects on cultural values and relationships.  The Environment Court released its decision on 7 August 2023 and upheld the 35-year term subject to additional engagement, monitoring and review conditions.

Higgins and Allied Asphalt

Submissions for both the Higgins and Allied Asphalt resource consent applications are now closed, with 35 submissions received for Higgins and 103 submissions for Allied. Both applications are being processed by an independent party. 

Allied have applied for direct referral to the Environment Court, which the Regional Council has agreed to. The Environment Court will therefore make the decision on the application.

New residential air monitors

Fumigation – Genera consent application 

New air quality rules

In 2018, Regional Council notified new air quality rules (Plan Change 13) to better protect and improve our air quality. A number of appeals were received, with Regional Council and the appellants working together to resolve them. In February this year, the Environment Court released its interim decision on the final appeal regarding Bulk Solid Material handling in the Mount Maunganui Airshed. The final decision is yet to be received.

In the interim decision, the Court identified unsealed yards as a key contributor to PM10 within the Mount Maunganui Airshed and it will direct Council to make a change (under section 293 of the Resource Management Act) to Plan Change 13 to control emissions of PM10 from unsealed yards in the Mount Maunganui Airshed. Staff will begin engagement with affected parties after the final decision is released.

Mount Industrial Work Programme and Council Reporting 

The Mount Maunganui Industrial Programme reports to the Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting. The latest update is included in the Chairman’s Report which can be accessed here. 
Please note, air quality in Mount Maunganui will also be discussed in more detail at the Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting on 5 September and the Strategy and Policy Committee will be considering the Environment Court’s Interim decision for Plan Change 13 and the recent Toi Te Ora “Air Pollution: Health Risk Assessment Mount Maunganui” report in its meeting on 31 October.