Couple sick of dust - literally
Brian and Rosemary Sollis are sick and tired of the dust that infiltrates their home. But mostly they are sick.
The soft rasp in Rosemary’s voice, a sign of the asthma that now plagues her during summer. The struggle to breathe as dust from hundreds of cars heading daily to the historic Wilson cement work ruins and swimming hole on the Mahurangi River, saw them pack up and leave for a month, Brian said.
By not sealing the road council is breaking the law, Brian maintained. Their lack of action means they are failing to protect our health, he said. Rodney Ward Councillor Greg Sayers agrees. ’’Public safety law requires council to keep its residents safe,’’ he said.
Particle matter (PM) is a wide spread air pollutant and comes from many sources including dust. PM of up to 10 micrometres in diameter (PM10) makes up a significant portion of road dust. Much of this dust is made of very fine particles less than PM2.5 that stay suspended in air, can get past body defences and are taken into the lungs. Here they can lead to respiratory problems.
A study of some high use unsealed roads by the NZTA showed dust levels can exceed national environmental standards for air quality. Released in August, Sayers, with backing from Waitemata DHB member Allison Roe, has taken aim at the council for ‘‘ignoring’’ the report and not taking health impacts of the dust seriously.
AT is currently trialling different surfaces on Old Woodcocks Rd, at Kaipara Flats, to look at reducing dust on unsealed roads.
Around 670 of Auckland’s 863 kilometres of unsealed rural roads are in the north. Last year the local board pushed for $10 million annually for the next 10 years for sealing extensions but got just $10 million over three years under council’s Long Term Plan. This will now reduce further from next year to $1.1million each year.
But concerns over widespread health issues from dust are not shared by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) air pollution expert, Dr Guy Coulson.
Even with dust issues rural people experience less fine PM pollution and associated health risks than people in urban areas from particles released by diesel truck engines and home fires burning wood in winter, he said.