Air quality monitoring in regional and rural NSW

Our monitoring network in regional and rural New South Wales includes key regional centres and multiple rural stations from the Community DustWatch network.

Rural New South Wales covers many separate airsheds and has a relatively low population density with no significant industrial sources of pollution.

Our monitoring in regional and rural New South Wales comprises 2 networks:

  • One network monitors air quality in key regional centres.
  • The second network is an expansion of the NSW Community DustWatch network and monitors dust and particles in both rural centres and remote locations across central and western New South Wales.

For details, download the network site information (XLSX 44KB).

Regional centres

We monitor air quality at several regional centres in New South Wales:

  • Gunnedah, Narrabri and Tamworth (North-west Slopes)
  • Armidale (Northern Tablelands)
  • Bathurst and Orange (Central Tablelands)
  • Goulburn (Southern Tablelands)
  • Albury and Wagga Wagga North (South-west Slopes)
  • Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie (Mid-North Coast). 

The Gunnedah and Narrabri stations are part of the Namoi Air Quality Monitoring Network, which is operated by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and supported by the NSW Environment Protection Authority. 

We monitor gaseous parameters, NEPH (visibility) and fine particles as PM10 and PM2.5 as well as meteorological variables. Data from the regional sites are reported hourly, as air quality category (AQC) ratings.

The Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network

The DustWatch network has transitioned into the Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network, managed by Climate and Atmospheric Science, and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. There are over 30 rural sites across western New South Wales and across the border into South Australia and Victoria (where source areas affect New South Wales).

We monitor particulate matter in the following size fractions:

  • TSP or Total Suspended Particles (particles less than 100 micrometers in diameter)
  • PM10 (particles less than 10 micrometres in diameter)
  • PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter).

Particulate monitors currently used in this network do not comply with Australian Standards and provide indicative measurements only. This facilitates a cost-effective and easy-to-operate community-based network. Instrument accuracy is being investigated and selected stations will be upgraded to meet Australian Standards.

Particulate matter concentrations from the rural network sites are reported hourly, expressed as mass of particulate matter (micrograms) per cubic metre of air (µg/m3).

During the 2017 NSW Clean Air Summit, the Environment Minister stated the government’s commitment to expanding air quality monitoring in the state, to address the need for improved air quality and understanding of air pollution exposure across the breadth of the state.

The NSW Community DustWatch network is a citizen-science program that gathers data about dust storms to monitor wind erosion and help care for land and soils.

Following the Ministerial announcement, during 2018 it was adopted as the first rural NSW air quality monitoring network. While retaining its original purpose, the network is being modified to better measure air quality across rural NSW. The next phase will be to upgrade selected stations for monitoring both dust and smoke.

Reporting

For the regional sites we provide hourly updated concentrations as air quality category (AQC) ratings. You can also find historical air quality information on the regional centres in department's annual air quality monitoring reports.

Air quality newsletters are published for the Namoi/North-west Slopes region.

For the NSW Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network, you can find hourly updated particle concentrations here. You can also contribute to the Community DustWatch program by submitting observations.