Opawa People Want Clean Air

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31017, 24 March 1966, Page 14

Opawa People Want Clean Air

opa w a residents strongly favour a clean air society in Christchurch. They see it as a possible source of help in their fight against smog, which is said to be a perennial and very damaging problem in several parts of the suburb.

Mrs E. J. Thompson, of 20 Opawa road, yesterday blamed smog for a long list of problems which had confronted her household during the last six years. She said that in that time the house had had to be painted twice, the curtains and carpets had become constantly greasy, and catches on the windows had corroded.

“We keep getting sore throats, and very often I have to take the clothes off the line because they are getting dirty,” she said. “I strongly support the aims of the clean air society.” Railways Blamed

Mrs Thompson blamed the nearby railway sheds where the engines are cleaned as the principal source of the trouble.

She said that all the people in the area had the same complaint. Mr W. M. Herd, a chemist in Opawa road, attributed the smog to the railway cleaning sheds, the gasworks, and an industrial laundry.

“The result is that the air is polluted with a greasy black mess. You can’t dust this stuff off; you have to use detergent,” he said. Mr Herd thought people on the south side of Opawa road would be most affected by the smoke and dirt from whatever source they came. The district mechanical engineer of the Railways Department (Mr W. J. Watkins) admitted that there had been complaints in the past about the smoke problem. “We try to keep the smoke down as much as possible, but wherever there are steam engines there must be some smoke,” he said. Special types of coal were ordered for use in the cleaning sheds, and a strict watch was kept at cleaning times. He did not think the department could do more until the change to diesel engines had been completed. Sulphur Content

The central figure in the movement for a clean air society, Mr P. Neary, said yesterday that if coal suppliers had managed to reduce sulphur concentrations in coal as they claimed then they had his congratulations. Mr Neary was replying to a statement by the president of the Canterbury Coal Merchants’ Association (Mr A. J. Lazarus), who said that 80 per cent of coal supplied to householders contained less than 1 per cent sulphur. But Mr Neary affirmed his

statement that the maximum sulphur content of coal delivered to Christchurch was about 7 per cent, that the lowest was about .5 per cent and the average was from about 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent.

“In my opinion this figure is too high for coal burning in an urban area unless special precautions are taken, and I have advocated a maximum limit of 1.5 per cent sulphur content for Christchurch coal supplies. “I believe the fume problem has spread over a wider area, and I would ask Mr Lazarus to seek out the residents of Opawa road in that

section adjacent to the railway to find out whether they feel that air pollution is being reduced. Car Engines “As regards the motor-car, recent professional journals have made the point that unless automotive power plants and their fuels are altered so that the pollution of the air is drastically reduced it may be necessary to ration their use rigidly. “In Christchurch it is generally accepted by most Observers that the domestic smoke load is the principal cause of our winter air pollution.”