Untuned cars strike sour note in Chch

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 6

Untuned cars strike sour note in Chch

Poorly tuned . motor cars belching' blue smoke from their exhaust systems .■ are stifling the inhabitants . of Christchurch. especially those in the city centre. Emission figures issued from a pilot system run in Christchurch by the Ministry of . Transport "indicate that almost two-thirds of 29,000 vehicles tested 6ver the. last 10 months failed because their emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, or both were above the levels set by the World Health Organisation. The Minister for the Environment (Dr Shearer) said at the opening of a one-day open workshop organised by the Clean Air Society yesterday that New Zealand's car population was making a significant contribution to air-pollution problems. An Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development review recommends that maximum levels be set for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions, and applied to all vehicles imported or assembled in New Zealand. The review

also recommends the compulsory tuning and testing of vehicles as a means of enforcing emission standards. Mr D. R. . Pullen, the

Christchurch regional airpollution officer, said that vehicles . in . New Zealahd were the worst tuned of anywhere in the. world; with 50 per cent running “grossly rich." --A/....

Pollution from cars tended to corrode buildings" and-re-duce the life of metals:- Because • of the high sulphur dioxide content in the atmosphere, lichens and mosses did not... grow naturally in Christchurch. Mr Pullen said. Dr Shearer would like to see lead removed completely from petrol, and as quickly as possible. ’ .

"The basic issue with which you are dealing can probably be very well summed up by a" recent letter to The Press,’ in which the writer said that just as we can no longer condone emptying chamber pots into the street, it is equally indefensible to allow the sky to become an open sewer." Dr Shearer said.