Table 6-5 Regional Ambient Air Quality Guidelines (RAAQG)

Contaminant	Averaging Time	Waikato Region Levels
Carbon monoxide (CO)	1 hour	30 mg/m3
	8 hours	10 mg/m3
Nitrogren dioxide (NO2)	1 hour	200 µg/m3
	24 hours	100 µg/m3
	Annual	30 µg/m3
Particulate matter (PM10)	24 hours	50 µg/m3
	Annual	20 µg/m3
Sulphur dioxide (SO2)	1 hour	350 µg/m3
	24 hour	120 µg/m3
Agricultural Crops	Annual and Winter average	30 µg/m3
Forest and natural vegetation	Annual and winter average	20 µg/m3
Lichen	Annual	10 µg/m3
Ozone (O3)	1 hour	150 µg/m3
	8 hours	100 µg/m3
Forests	6 months	21,400 µg/m3 – h
Semi-natural vegetation	3 months	6,420 µg/m3 – h
Crops (yield)	3 months	6,420 µg/m3 – h
Crops (visible injury) mean daytime vpd below 1.5kPa	5 days	428 µg/m3 – h
Crops (visible injury) mean daytime vpd above 1.5kPa	5 days	1,070 µg/m3 – h
Hydrogen sulphide (H2S)	1 hour	7 µg/m3
Lead content of PM10	3 month moving average	0.2 µg/m3
Benzene (current)	Annual	10 µg/m3
Benzene (2010)	Annual	3.6 µg/m3

 

• The RAAQG have been adopted as maximum acceptable levels of priority contaminants for managing ambient air quality in the Waikato Region. The RAAQG are not standards. The acceptable level of these contaminants in air in any given situation will depend upon a site specific analysis in accordance with the policies in Section 6.1.3.
• The application and interpretation of the guideline values shall be in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Ambient Air Quality Guidelines, Ministry for the Environment, May 2002.
• In the absence of a regional guideline value regard shall be had to relevant national and/or international criteria as appropriate.
• The specific monitoring methods to be used will, as a matter of preference, be those specified in the most recent version of the Ministry for the Environment’s Ambient Air Quality Guidelines. Where those guidelines are not specific, or are out of date, the monitoring method to be used will be determined on a case by case basis having regard to best practice.
• In some circumstances, such as discharges from the mineral processing industry, PM₁₀ may not be the appropriate indicator of air quality effects from particulate matter. In those circumstances measures such as total suspended particulate and/or dust deposition may be more appropriate.
• These Guidelines are not to be used as ‘pollute up to’ levels in the Region.
• The levels in the Guidelines are concerned with the cumulative impacts of discharges into air from human activities and natural processes.
• When using the Guidelines to calculate allowable emission standards for single sources consideration should be given to the proportion of the available air quality increment that should be allocated to that single source. Consideration also needs to be given to background levels of contaminants so that the Guideline values are not exceeded.
• Critical levels for nitrogen dioxide assume that either O₃ or SO₂ are also present at near guideline levels. Critical levels for ozone are expressed as a cumulative exposure over a concentration threshold referred to as AOT40 values (accumulative exposure over a threshold of 85.6 µg/m³, at O°C), calculated as the sum of the difference between hourly ambient ozone concentrations and 85.6 µg/m³, when ozone concentrations exceed 85.6 µg/m³. Ozone is only measured during daylight hours with a clear global radiation of 50Wm^-2 or greater; vpd = vapour pressure deficit.
• The hydrogen sulphide value is based on odour nuisance and may be unsuitable for use in geothermal areas.

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