Residents in Sydney’s inner-city can now access more real-time local air quality data as the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) partners with the City of Sydney to launch a new air monitoring station.
Director of Climate and Atmospheric Science at DPE, Matthew Riley the new rooftop station in Alexandria would complement readings from the CBD monitoring station at Cook and Phillip Park.
“The community has a keen interest in healthy, clean air and this station will provide timely advice on local air quality,” Mr Riley said.
“The station is located to provide detailed air quality information for the growing population of residents, workers and visitors to the Alexandria/Green Square area,” he said.
“Air quality is important for human health and the environment and this station will support continual air quality monitoring of the City of Sydney.”
Mr Riley said readings from the Alexandria station would be used to assess compliance against the national health-based air quality standards.
He said the station also provided locally specific information during air quality incidents, such as bushfires or during heatwaves, and supported the NSW air quality alert and forecasting system.
“The new station will record and stream hourly data for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, PM10 and PM2.5 airborne particles, sulfur dioxide and visibility and collect meteorological data on humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction,” the Director said.
Mr Riley said the Alexandria station was the 95th station in NSW’s air quality monitoring network, which is Australia’s most comprehensive monitoring network.
Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore said the partnership with the State Government provided crucial, long-term data to help identify trends and respond accordingly.
“The biggest polluters across the City of Sydney are cars, trucks and buses,” Cr Moore said.
“Having consistent and reliable information on air quality helps us understand where the challenges are and how best to identify ways to encourage uptake of active and cleaner modes of transport.”
Readings from the Alexandria station can be found at this PS News link.
