NSW annual air quality statement 2022

New South Wales experienced the best air quality on record across many measures in 2022. Pollutant levels were within national standards 100% of the time at many monitoring stations in 2022. There were no days with extremely poor air pollution levels.

This statement summarises the data collected from the NSW Air Quality Monitoring Network during 2022. It describes air quality conditions at stations in metropolitan and regional centres as well as stations near industrial activities. Data are reported against national standards. See Defining the network for more information.

Annual summary

New South Wales experienced good air quality overall in 2022, with improvements compared to 2021, primarily due to cool and continuing wet weather.

Key findings of the analysis

  • Pollutant levels were within national standards 100% of the time in many NSW regions during 2022. These include all the Sydney regions and the Illawarra, Central Coast, Lower Hunter, Upper Hunter population centres and Southern Tablelands.
  • The Lake Macquarie, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, Mid North Coast, Central Tablelands and Riverina-Murray regions recorded air pollutant levels within the national standards between 97.0% and 99.7% of the time. Levels at the remaining industry-funded Newcastle local network were within standards 90% of the time, with the exceedances due to sea salt at Stockton raising PM10 levels.
  • Annual average particle pollution levels generally decreased in 2022, compared to 2021.
    • PM10 annual averages were within the national standards at all stations with available annual average data in 2022, except Stockton, the same as in 2021.
    • PM2.5 annual averages were within the national standards at all stations with available annual average data in 2022, where Stockton was above the standard in 2021.
  • Annual average PM10 levels in 2022 were the lowest recorded at most NSW metropolitan and regional population centres since records began at each station. Many stations recorded annual average levels of PM10 less than half of the standard.
  • There were fewer days at metropolitan and regional centres with pollutants exceeding standards recorded in 2022 than in 2021, excluding Stockton. The network recorded a total of 18 days in 2022 with one or more criteria pollutant levels over national standards, compared with 33 days in 2021. Sea salt at Stockton added an additional 36 days over the national standards in 2022.
  • Particulates (PM10 and PM2.5) were the primary cause of days with pollutants exceeding national standards in 2022.
    • There were 2 days with PM10 levels over the standard at metropolitan and regional centres, excluding Stockton, compared to 18 days in 2021.
    • There were 16 days with PM2.5 levels over the standard, compared to 23 days in 2021.
    • Improved particle levels resulted from the continuing wet weather primarily limiting dust, bushfires and hazard reduction burns.
  • Levels of ozone and carbon monoxide remained within national standards.
  • There was one day with hourly sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels over the national standard, recorded at Morisset in Lake Macquarie.
  • There was one day with hourly nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels over the national standard at Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast.
  • There was one exceedance of the NO2 annual benchmark at the special projects Bradfield Highway roadside monitoring station (north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, adjacent to one of the state's busiest roads).
  • There were no extreme pollution days in 2022, defined as days where any pollutant levels exceed twice the national standard. In comparison, there were 2 extreme days for PM10 and 9 days for PM2.5 in 2021.

Focus areas

Newcastle Local Air Quality Monitoring Station The 2022 Statement presents 3 focus areas:

  • two sections examining air quality at monitoring stations nearby industrial activities in the Hunter Valley and at Stockton in the Port of Newcastle.
  • a section highlighting the NSW Government's recent achievements implementing the NSW Clean Air Strategy 2021–2030.

There were fewer days where particulates exceeded standards in 2022 than in 2021.

  • Daily average PM10 levels exceeded the national standard at one or more metropolitan and regional centres on less than 1% of days (2 days) in 2022, compared with 5% (18 days) in 2021, excluding Stockton, which is affected by sea salt.
  • When including Stockton, there were 38 days (10%) with PM10 exceedances in 2022, compared with 40 days (11%) in 2021.
  • Daily average PM2.5 levels exceeded the national standard at one or more metropolitan and regional centres on 4% of days (16 days) in 2022, compared to 6% of days (23 days) in 2021.

Annual average particle pollution levels were generally lower in 2022.

  • Annual average PM10 levels remained within the national standard in metropolitan and regional centres with available annual average data, except for Stockton, which recorded the highest PM10 annual average for 2022 of 30.3 µg/m3. This is similar to 2021, when only Stockton recorded an annual average PM10 over the national standard, with a level of 30.1 µg/m3.
  • Annual average PM2.5 levels were within the national standard of 8.0 µg/m3 at all monitoring stations with available annual average data, compared with one station exceeding the standard in 2021. The highest annual PM2.5 average was recorded at Stockton with a level of 7.5 µg/m3. In 2021, the highest annual average was 8.3 µg/m3 at Stockton.

Levels of ozone and carbon monoxide remained within the national standards in 2022. In 2021, there were 5 days with 8-hour ozone levels over national standard, while 8-hour CO remained within the standard.

There was one day with 1-hour SO2 levels above the national standard in 2022. This occurred at Morisset in the Lake Macquarie region on 19 October 2022, with a maximum hourly SO2 level of 18.3 pphm. These elevated levels were likely due to emissions from local industrial power stations. In 2021, one day recorded hourly levels above the national standard at Muswellbrook.

Based on historical data, the levels of SO2 at Muswellbrook are usually higher during summer and can exceed the hourly standard, however Muswellbrook data was only available from late February 2022, due to an instrument fault.

There were no days over the daily SO2 standard in 2022.

There was one day with 1-hour NO2 levels above the national standard in 2022. This occurred at Coffs Harbour in the Mid North Coast on 17 March 2022, with a maximum hourly NO2 level of 24.5 pphm. These elevated levels were likely caused by sources within the immediate vicinity of the station and are unlikely to reflect the ambient air quality levels experienced in the region. In 2021, there were no days over the NO2 standard.

There were no exceedances of the NO2 annual standard at the long term (non-roadside) monitoring stations. However, the special projects Bradfield Highway roadside monitoring station (adjacent to one of the state's busiest roads), recorded an annual average NO2 level of 1.8 pphm, which is over the 1.5 pphm national benchmark.

Defining the network

The NSW Air Quality Monitoring Network in 2022 comprised over 90 air quality monitoring stations. Over 50 stations used compliance methods to monitor air quality in areas of the state's highest populations, as well as near industrial activities in the Upper Hunter and the Port of Newcastle, and at stations with special interest or research purposes. Over 35 stations, supported by volunteers and rural community organisations, used indicative instrumentation methods to monitor particles across the NSW rural air quality monitoring network.

Stations in metropolitan and regional centres include 3 stations near the Port of Newcastle – Carrington, Mayfield and Stockton – and 3 stations in larger population centres in the Upper Hunter – Aberdeen, Muswellbrook and Singleton.

Hourly updated data from the NSW Air Quality Monitoring Network is available for:

More information is available in regular publications on our website.

Special note

NSW Annual Air Quality Statements report particle pollution as 24-hour average concentrations when comparing data with national air quality standards.

The NSW Government reports particle pollution online as 1-hour averages, adopting a nationally consistent approach for reporting hourly PM2.5 data and related health advice.