Robyn Edie / Stuff
Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell says the results of the report are worrying and he will investigate the data further. [file photo]
Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell is asking for more information regarding a report that says Invercargill has the most premature deaths from air pollution per capita in the country.
The Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand 3.0 report, produced by Emission Impossible Ltd, estimated air pollution in New Zealand according to 2016 data was responsible for 3300 premature deaths per year.
Horrell said his council would look closely at the report, including where exactly the data came from, particularly with regard to nitrogen dioxide, as Invercargill had no problems with vehicular congestion on roads or highways in the south.
“Unless it’s taken off the bypass in Invercargill, it doesn’t quite add up,” he said.
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The report was the first to consider the health effects of nitrous oxide, he said, and had revealed the gas had a greater impact on human health than originally thought.
The council would review its air pollution strategy as a result, he said.
“We will ask for a report to come to the council,” he said.
The premature deaths were calculated by looking at the 2016 census data, the base number of hospital admissions and maps of the concentration of air pollutants. It also took death rates into account and took out factors such as smoking to see which premature deaths could be attributed to air pollution.
However, the report’s methodology states “because the effects contribute, individual deaths cannot be directly attributed to air pollution”.
The report says Invercargill City had the most premature deaths from vehicle exhaust and house fires combined among people over 30 per 100,000 people in New Zealand.
This is taken from data that an estimated 74 people over the age of 30 had died prematurely as a result of air pollution in Invercargill in 2016.
All regions were modeled at an average of 100,000 to create a standardized model for comparison.
The 2018 census put the population of Invercargill at 54,204.
Project leader Dr. Gerda Kuschel said combining data on pollutants from vehicle exhaust and pollutants in house fires had placed Invercargill at the top of the country for premature deaths.
The report was peer-reviewed by international experts, leading Kuschel to believe with a high degree of confidence that the estimated 74 deaths of people over the age of 30 from air pollution in the city of Invercargill in 2016 were accurate.
Southland air quality scientist Owen West said some improvement has been seen in PM10 and PM2.5 levels since 2016.
The 2016 regional air plan had introduced a series of phase-out shutdowns for older home burners and solid fuel stoves, he said, but it would take “some time” to see results in air pollution data.
The new evidence surrounding the health effects of air pollution from motor vehicles was worrying, he said.
“It’s very clear that there are major concerns about reducing those.”
The report has been prepared for the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport of Te Manatū Waka and the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.