Published Wednesday, 27 August, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation
The Honourable Andrew McNamara
Gladstone’s new mobile air monitoring station on line
The next link in the Bligh Government’s $2 million Clean and Healthy Air for Gladstone program has been put into place.
Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara today announced that a $150,000 mobile air monitoring station had arrived in Gladstone and was up and running.
Mr McNamara described the new machine as “latest generation” and said it would be the benchmark for future mobile air monitoring stations in Queensland.
“It is currently sited at the Boyne Island Environmental Education Centre and the EPA will be discussing future locations at a meeting tonight with the community and industry reference groups,” he said.
“The mobile station will complement the fixed network as it has the capacity to measure the same full suite of more than 100 potential air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particles.
“The difference is this monitor can be swiftly deployed to different locations depending on the prevailing winds to measure chemicals of concern.”
By the end of September there will be seven air monitoring stations in place with the installation of a fixed station at Boyne and an optical long path analyser specifically designed to analyse gases to be mounted on top of the Entertainment Centre.
In addition, further upgrades of existing stations will be carried out over the next two months.
“This will give Gladstone the most comprehensive air monitoring network anywhere in Australia,” Mr McNamara said.
Like the fixed stations, the mobile air monitoring station will be linked to the EPA website http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/air/ where residents can view constantly updated data.
The full list of substances being monitored by each of the air monitoring stations is on the EPA website at http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p02303aa.pdf
Media: Scott Dixon 3336 8004 or 0439 761 416.
If you would like to take photos of the new machine on site, pls call EPA Principal Scientist David Love on 4971 6508
Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara today announced that a $150,000 mobile air monitoring station had arrived in Gladstone and was up and running.
Mr McNamara described the new machine as “latest generation” and said it would be the benchmark for future mobile air monitoring stations in Queensland.
“It is currently sited at the Boyne Island Environmental Education Centre and the EPA will be discussing future locations at a meeting tonight with the community and industry reference groups,” he said.
“The mobile station will complement the fixed network as it has the capacity to measure the same full suite of more than 100 potential air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particles.
“The difference is this monitor can be swiftly deployed to different locations depending on the prevailing winds to measure chemicals of concern.”
By the end of September there will be seven air monitoring stations in place with the installation of a fixed station at Boyne and an optical long path analyser specifically designed to analyse gases to be mounted on top of the Entertainment Centre.
In addition, further upgrades of existing stations will be carried out over the next two months.
“This will give Gladstone the most comprehensive air monitoring network anywhere in Australia,” Mr McNamara said.
Like the fixed stations, the mobile air monitoring station will be linked to the EPA website http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/air/ where residents can view constantly updated data.
The full list of substances being monitored by each of the air monitoring stations is on the EPA website at http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p02303aa.pdf
Media: Scott Dixon 3336 8004 or 0439 761 416.
If you would like to take photos of the new machine on site, pls call EPA Principal Scientist David Love on 4971 6508