Brooklyn is showing its best air quality results on record, but it’s still the worst area in Melbourne for dust emissions, the Environment Protection Authority has reported.
Brooklyn’s emissions have more than halved since work began on sealing two of the suburb’s dustiest roads in May last year.
Jones and Bunting roads were the biggest dust sources before both were eventually sealed last October, the EPA said in a new report. “Even though Brooklyn’s air quality has improved considerably during the past year, more days have still exceeded the [10 micrometres] standard in Brooklyn during the past 12 months than anywhere else monitored by EPA in Melbourne,” the EPA found. “This shows that more actions will be required to further improve Brooklyn’s air quality.”
The biggest change in emissions was between 7am and 10am when “there has been northerly winds and no recent rain”.
EPA data shows that during the 12 months from when sealing works began to the end of April this year, the 10-micrometre standard was exceeded on eight days.
This was a significant drop from 19 for the same period of 2014-15, 34 in 2013-14 and 29 in 2012-13, but it was still above the EPA’s target of five or less high-emission days each year.
EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said the figures were the best results Brooklyn had seen since EPA began air monitoring in 2009.
“The successful sealing of Bunting and Jones roads has significantly helped reduce dust and air pollution in Brooklyn,” Mr Finegan said.
“However, more work is needed to help reduce dust impacts in the area.”
He said that with the lowest rainfall levels recorded by the EPA since 2009 during the May to April period, it was road sealing “rather than rainfall helping to reduce dust impacts” and improve Brooklyn’s air quality.
