Dust monitoring – northwest Christchurch
We often respond to reports of offensive or nuisance dust from community members who live and work around dust sources. This page shows our latest monitoring information including the number of reports we've received and proactive site visits in these areas.
For more information about offensive dust, how we assess dust discharges, key factors we consider, our investigation process and the action we take, download this 'Offensive dust factsheet' (PDF File, 40.25KB).
Based on previous years’ data, we expect dust reports (and our associated monitoring activity) to decrease over winter, while being more prominent in summer when conditions are dry and windy.
Reports
The following graph shows the number of reports of dust we've received via phone, email, or Snap Send Solve over the past six months.
Business hours of the compliance team are 8.00am-4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
After hours means weekdays outside of business hours, as well as weekends and public holidays. During these times, only serious events are attended.
Incidents and proactive site visits
The following graph shows the number of recorded incidents, attended incidents, and proactive dust monitoring visits undertaken by our staff over the last six months.
Routine consent monitoring compliance visits are also being undertaken in addition to these proactive visits and complaint responses.
Recorded incident means one dust discharge event. There may be many reports from the community that all relate to a single dust event.
Attended incident means incidents that were attended by a warranted compliance officer. Not all attended incidents will result in the officer detecting dust as conditions may have changed.
Proactive site visits are dust monitoring visits undertaken that were not triggered by complaints. Officers plan when to conduct these visits based on when weather conditions are most likely to cause dust issues. Potential dust generating sites in the area are not aware of when we will be conducting these visits.
Proactive site visit summaries
October 2023
We received four reports of offensive and objectionable dust from sites within the northwest Christchurch area. Two of these were responded to, with dust beyond the property boundary observed on 26 October. The dust observed did not reach the threshold for offensive and objectionable, as it was infrequent and low intensity. However, the site’s manager and the company’s environmental advisor were advised of our observations. They have advised that they are reviewing their dust mitigation measures in response.
One proactive dust monitoring site visit also occurred on 13 October. Wind conditions were 24km/h northerlies at the time. No dust was observed at any of the sites monitored.
September 2023
We received three reports of offensive and objectionable dust from sites within the northwest Christchurch area. One of these was responded to, and dust was not observed beyond the property boundary.
Two proactive dust monitoring site visits also occurred on 15 and 18 September. On 15 September, wind conditions were 55km/h southerlies, and no dust was observed beyond property boundaries. On 18 September, wind conditions were 33km/h northwesterlies and dust was observed beyond the property boundary at one site, which could have been considered offensive and objectionable.
The warranted compliance officer approached the site and explained their observations. The site immediately took action to increase the usage of their water cart. This made a noticeable difference to the amount of dust being discharged. The officer remained on-site until they were satisfied that appropriate mitigation measures had been taken and would continue to be implemented.
August 2023
In August 2023, five dust complaints were reported to Environment Canterbury, each of which was recorded as a separate incident. One of these, reported on 21 August, was responded to by an Officer who was in close proximity at the time. No dust was observed either within or beyond the property boundary of the site concerned.
We were only able to respond to one of the five reports due to the significant number of pollution incidents we are currently experiencing. These incidents are triaged and prioritised based on potential environmental impact and staff availability, which has also been impacted by sickness.
Three proactive monitoring visits were undertaken in August 2023, as part of routine consent monitoring site visits. These occurred on August 11, 15 and 29. The Officer spent over two hours in the field on each occasion. As these proactive visits were undertaken as part of routine monitoring, most of the time was spent on a single site monitoring compliance with all of that site’s consents. However, while in the area, the Officer also spent time driving around other sites to ensure dust mitigation measures were appropriate.
No dust was observed either within or beyond any site’s property boundary as part of these visits.
July 2023
We did not receive any reports relating to dust in the northwest Christchurch area during July. Our warranted compliance officers also did not undertake any proactive site visits this month.
June 2023
We did not receive any reports relating to dust in the northwest Christchurch area during June. Our warranted compliance officers also did not undertake any proactive site visits this month.
May 2023
We did not receive any reports relating to dust in the northwest Christchurch area during May. Our warranted compliance officers also did not undertake any proactive site visits this month.
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