Smoke is still main pollution worry

Press, 5 July 1978, Page 6

Smoke is still main pollution worry

Smoke is still Christ-1 church’s main pollution' worry, according to a citv! health insnector, but open fires will not be banned until! future alternative fuels are, ! known. i Mr T. Moody, supervising); i health inspector with the : Christchurch City Council,! 'said the problem was know-i iing what fuels would be!; Electricity was the! (only “certain” fuel, i Under existing clean-air re-1 filiations new houses cannot); !be built in Christchurch with)' • open fires. The City Council li has agreed to extend the! {zone to include banning con- ' {version to open fires in exlisting houses but this has still) ■ to be approved by the Gov-h .ernment. Supporters of alternative' heating may be happier with); ia report expected soon from: {a Government inter-j ; departmental ■ committee i which has looked at proposals I to increase the loans avail- ; {able for conversion tp alter- • native heating and widening ;

i the range of approved appliances. At present a loan of up to ;$5OO is available for conversion to an approved appliance. The regulations, howjever, cover only coal-burning jappliances and radiant gas heaters. I Open fires are used often lin the older suburbs. For example, Fendalton was one of ! the worst areas for smoke ! pollution last month. Waijmairi County does not have ja clean-air zone but the (county council’s chief health ' officer (Mr G. Manton) is opti- ; mistic that one will be established soon. The council allows open {fires in new houses as a secondary source of heat provided that an alternative (means, such as electricity, {gas, or solid fuel is the priimary source. | Mr Manton said that fewer open fires were being built in new houses for economic reasons. The Health Department’s readings of nitrogen-oxide

pollution last month were well up on last year’s figures but there was much disagreement on what constituted a dangerous level, said Mr Moody. The assistant air-pollution control officer (Miss Rosemary Paterson) said there was no provision in Christchurch for an emergency level of pollution. “No one has thought that far ahead,” she said. Any suggestion that the smog problem would justify cheaper electrical heating in winter was rejected by the general manager of the Municipal Electricity Department (Mr J. P. Shelley). “It’s bad enough changing the price once a year when we raise it without suggesting that we change it twice a vear,” he said. The Government had suggested cheaper winter rates but supply authorities had said they could not handle it for administrative reasons, said Mr