Regional Council investigates Sulphur Dioxide emissions

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is investigating recent spikes in sulphur dioxide gas levels recorded by air monitoring equipment that is located behind the Hewletts Road industrial area in Mount Maunganui.

Pollution Prevention Manager Nick Zaman said that the monitoring equipment had recorded unacceptably high sulphur dioxide levels on two occasions in recent weeks.

“We’ve had both readings independently verified. We know there are a number of sulphur dioxide sources in the area, which include industrial plants manufacturing fertilisers and processing chemicals as well as shipping and train activities.”

“We’ve requested monitoring information from local industries to identify any potential breaches of resource consents conditions and will be treating any breaches very seriously. We are currently investigating to identify what has caused these National Environmental Standards (NES) exceedances.”

The maximum upper limit set by NES for sulphur dioxide which must not be exceeded is 570 micrograms per cubic meter of air over a one hour average.

The two verified breaches were above the upper limits, spiking at 628 and 751 micrograms of sulphur dioxide per cubic meter over a one hour average on the 27 February and 5 March respectively. The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has also been notified.

ENDS

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