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Rotorua

Rotorua has the Bay of Plenty's second-highest population for urban areas. It is mostly residential, but there are two main industrial areas in the western and eastern suburbs. Monitoring sites in the city look at a range of contaminants. The main monitoring site is at Edmund Road.

 

 

PM10 is monitored at the Edmund Rd station, in the city's western suburbs. This contaminant is Bay of Plenty Regional Council's main focus, with up to three concurrent sites measuring this contaminant. One site monitors it to ensure compliance with national environmental standards.

A recent emission inventory exercise by Wilton (2023) is available upon request from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Town Summary
Air quality in this town

The Rotorua urban area has a long history of exceedances of the national environmental standards for air quality in the winter. The main cause of this poor air quality is smoke from home heating fires. However, for ten years, Clean Air Rotorua has supported the community in the Rotorua Airshed to access heating and insulation upgrades, Hot Swap loans, low-income heating grants and subsidised burner removals. Significant improvement has been made on the issue and the air is cleaner and safer, but further work needs to be done.

Sources of air pollution

Home heating Industrial Outdoor burning Traffic Indoor sources Natural sources
  • Show Hide
    • Sources of PM10 emissions
    • Sources of PM2.5 emissions
    • Sources of NOx emissions
    Source Annual percentage Winter day percentage
    Home heating Home heating {{emissions.annualhome}}% {{emissions.winterhome}}%
    Industrial Industrial {{emissions.annualindustry}}% {{emissions.winterindustry}}%
    Outdoor burning Outdoor burning {{emissions.annualoutdoor}}% {{emissions.winteroutdoor}}%
    Traffic Traffic {{emissions.annualmotor}}% {{emissions.wintermotor}}%
    Relative breakdown
    Annual
    Winter day

    The table shows the proportions of the main sources of PM10, PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in this town from home heating, industrial activities, outdoor burning and traffic.  (Indoor, natural and shipping sources are not included in this breakdown). 

    These values come from 2013 data sourced from MfE’s data service.  Consistent methodology was used to calculate these estimates of PM and NOx emissions, which allows comparison between towns throughout New Zealand.  Regional council or unitary authority published emissions information might differ if they were prepared in a different year or used another method. Contact your regional council or unitary authority for more information about PM and other emissions in your area.

Seasonal variation

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  • Show temperature
Showing:

PM10

PM2.5

Wind speed (km/h)

Air temperature (℃)

What is this graph showing me?

The graph shows the monthly average PM concentrations at one representative site in this town for the year selected. In many towns in New Zealand, PM peaks in the winter when air temperatures and wind speeds are lowest as more people heat their homes during colder weather, and still conditions mean that there is no wind to disperse the air pollutants.

Sites 2
Monitored sites in Rotorua

Monitored sites in this town can be categorised according to location:

  • Residential: Air monitoring site is in a suburban area with a relatively high population density, but not close to a busy road or industry.
  • Traffic: Air monitoring site is very close to a busy road or intersection.
  • Industry: Air monitoring site is close to industry, including heavy commercial and processing factories.
  • Coastal: Air monitoring site is close to the coast where there are high levels of sea salt in the air.
  • NES: A site monitored for compliance with the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES-AQ).

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