Colin says after hearing Ian speak about the issues with air quality in the city and the implications this has for everybody’s health, he was very keen to be involved in a project that would help provide information that could drive change to improve the situation.
“I was aware of air quality monitoring. As the former principal of St George School (now Fernworth), I knew we had an Environment Southland air quality monitoring station on the corner of Pomona Street and Tramway Road, close to the school grounds, but I didn’t really know much more than that.
“However, as a founding member of South Alive, I’m very keen to see the housing stock in South Invercargill improved. There are lots of older homes with fires and for many it’s still the best and most efficient source of heat – especially if they have a good source of firewood, but it is worrying the damage poor air quality can do.”
Colin was surprised to hear how much air pollution had been measured inside homes in previous studies, often homes which were much more airtight or even had ventilation systems installed.
“It’s easy to measure what’s in the environment outside, but more difficult to know what is happening inside people’s homes. What you are breathing in when you are sitting in the lounge watching TV could be quite concerning – that’s why we have the sensor here – to find out what is going on.”
Colin says he’s conscious of living a sustainable life, with an electric vehicle and solar panels on his home and being a participant in a study is always interesting. In this case, he says it’s been really easy. The relatively unobtrusive sensor only needs to be near a plug and sitting at about the height you would be breathing at most of the time in the room it is in.
The sensor has its own network setup and feeds data directly to NIWA who will provide an assessment back to the homeowner at the end of the study.
Colin says he’s really looking forward to finding out the results.
“Particulates aren’t visible so it will be interesting to measure them and see what is going on. I’m also looking forward to seeing if this project can be expanded next year.”
Ian says once data is gathered from the sensors, it will be merged with data from the outdoor sensors to provide assessments of the individual homes and there will be a hui at South Alive to provide some feedback.
Meanwhile, South Alive community development and operations manager Julz Orr says South Alive took the opportunity to assist NIWA to connect with community volunteers as it fits well with their goals.
“Our South Invercargill community were keen to be part of this pilot study to monitor air quality within their homes. South Alive tackles issues through community-led development; we are keen to be involved as the project expands and identifies the air quality issues, as we are interested in the long term benefits that will help residents understand air quality issues, improve their health and reduce air pollution in South Invercargill.”
