The council’s eight-month review, tabled at the ORC’s Oamaru meeting this week, notes a delay in the release of possible changes to the National Environmental Standard for air quality, informing councillors the uncertainty about future monitoring requirements had affected plans to develop an Otago air strategy.
Council communications team leader Mark Peart said the council was setting up its winter air quality monitoring as usual in Alexandra, Arrowtown, Balclutha, Clyde, Cromwell, Dunedin, Milton, and Mosgiel, but noted the council was also consulting on monitoring smaller particles than previously in its draft annual plan.
"It’s possible once the NES [National Environmental Standard] is revised ... that we will re-examine our monitoring strategy," Mr Peart wrote in an email this week.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, is advocating monitoring "particles suspended in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less rather than the current 10 micrometres."
Submissions opened on April 3 and close on May 12. The annual plan will be adopted on June 28.
