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Airsheds

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An airshed is a legally designated air quality management area.

In New Zealand, regional councils and unitary authorities have identified areas to be managed as airsheds for the purposes of the national environmental standards for air quality.

Polluted airsheds

  • Taupō
  • Tokoroa

Over a 5-year period (2008 to 2013) Putāruru, Taupō, Te Kūiti and Tokoroa regularly exceeded the national environmental standards for PM10 and were classified as polluted airsheds under Regulation 16D and 17(4) of the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Air Quality) Regulations 2004.

Te Kūiti, Taupō and Putāruru were found to meet the criteria under Regulation 17(4) of the standards for being re-classified as non-polluted as of 10 December 2016, 27 June 2018 and 14 March 2019 respectively. The classification for the Taupō airshed has reverted back to polluted since 14 August 2022.

Under Regulation 17, the standards require us to assess all resource consent applications for substantial discharges of PM10 into polluted airsheds to determine whether offsets will be necessary.

Pursuant to Regulation 24A of the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Air Quality) Regulations 2004, the discharge of particles from domestic solid-fuel burning open fires installed within the following airsheds after the specified dates is prohibited.

  • Putāruru on or after 9 April 2015
  • Taupō on or after 27 June 2014
  • Te Kūiti on or after 3 July 2013
  • Tokoroa on or after 21 May 2013

Advisory notes

A domestic solid-fuel burning open fire

  1. means an appliance or a structure inside a domestic building that can burn solid-fuel but cannot effectively control the rate of air supply to the combustion zone; and
  2. to avoid doubt, includes a fireplace to which paragraph (a) applies that has a cover or doors that cannot effectively control the rate of air supply to the combustion zone i.e. any fire where the combustion chamber is not totally enclosed e.g. brick or masonry fireplaces, visors, open hearths, Jetmaster fireplaces.
Read more information on exceedances of PM10 levels

Regional airsheds and their boundaries

There are 21 airsheds in the Waikato region. 

  • 20 urban airsheds. You can see these listed below. An asterisk (*) indicates that the airshed is currently being monitored by Waikato Regional Council. Expand the location to view a boundary map.
  • 1 'rest of the region' airshed, made up of the areas not covered by the listed urban airsheds.

Many of our airsheds are known, or likely, to have levels of pollutants that exceed the national environmental standards for air quality. Some airsheds are also identified based on factors such as:

  • number of people living in the airshed now or in the future
  • unique weather patterns and geography
  • local air emissions, such as local industrial activity, that need to be specifically considered and managed.