National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality
Introduction
On 26 June 1998 the former National Environment Protection Council made the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) for Ambient Air Quality 
.
The NEPM establishes national ambient air quality standards for six major pollutants:
- carbon monoxide
- nitrogen dioxide
- photochemical oxidants (measured as ozone)
- sulphur dioxide
- lead
- particles
The standards in the NEPM are designed to protect human health and wellbeing. The standards for four of the pollutants are similar to guidelines previously used in Australia, while the standards for lead and particles are more stringent than previous guidelines. Schedule 2 of the NEPM lists the standards.
The standards in the NEPM are not intended to be the peak maximum acceptable levels of the pollutants but represent levels that should be achieved in the majority of urban residential areas. For example a NEPM monitoring station would not be established at the boundary of an industrial point source of air pollutants or at the edge of a major road.
Under the NEPM each Australian State and Territory is required to establish an air quality monitoring program for the pollutants listed in the NEPM, unless investigations or previous monitoring show that monitoring for a particular pollutant is unnecessary, i.e. that the Standards are already met. For example, long term monitoring has demonstrated that airborne lead is no longer an issue in most urban areas in Australia, so it is not generally monitored. Furthermore, levels of photochemical smog are very low in Tasmanian so there is no program to monitor ozone or nitrogen oxides.
Each State and Territory is expected to implement programs to achieve the air quality standards specified in the NEPM within 10 years, i.e. by 2008. To view Tasmania's progress towards meeting the Air NEPM see the Air NEPM Annual Reports.
In May 2003, the Environment Protection and Heritage Council made an amendment to the Air NEPM to include a Reporting Standard for PM2.5 particles, those that are small enough to penetrate into the deep areas of human lungs. This only requires jurisdictions to monitor PM2.5 particles, to obtain data to inform a decision on making a standard in 2008.
This document describes how Tasmania plans to monitor, assess and report air quality for the purposes of the NEPM. By using GRUB stations to monitor the ambient air at particular locations the community can be reasonably sure that, if the standards of the NEPM are met at such sites then most of the total population of the associated region will be exposed to air that complies with the standards.
Implementation of the Measure in Tasmania
The Air Quality NEPM has become a State Policy in Tasmania, in accordance with the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 (to view the Act, see the Tasmanian Legislation website , and use the search engine on this site to locate the Act.)
As a result of the NEPM, Tasmania has installed a much better air quality monitoring network.
The National Environment Protection Measure For Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Plan for Tasmania may be downloaded below.
The Environment Protection Policy (Air Policy) came into effect in 2004. The Policy invokes the Air NEPM Standards in several of its requirements. For example it provides that, notwithstanding compliance with in-stack or ground-level criteria, no emissions from a point source should prejudice compliance with the NEPM beyond its boundaries.
Download the Air Quality Monitoring Plan for Tasmania
National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air Quality
Monitoring Plan for Tasmania
(PDF: 1.11 MB / 55 pages)
This a Portable Document Format (PDF) file and requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Reader is easy to download and is free of charge.
Benefits and Costs of the NEPM
The Impact Statement for the NEPM suggested that substantial long term health savings will result from achieving the NEPM standards. A clean urban air environment should also benefit Tasmanians in other ways by improving visibility and aesthetics. This will improve Tasmania's "clean, green" image and benefit tourism as well as making Tasmania an even better place to live.
The most obvious costs of the NEPM for the Government are the initial establishment and servicing of the monitoring network. Another cost will be for the development and implementation of a strategy to achieve the particle standard. While it is clear that this will have to include a program to improve the use of wood heaters, it is not yet clear what other measures will be required. The development of the strategy will take account of the costs of the various options available.
Further Information
A copy of the Ambient Air NEPM can be downloaded from the Environment Protection & Heritage Council web site: http://www.ephc.com.au
Further information on the implementation of the NEPM in Tasmania may be obtained by contacting:
Air Specialist
134 Macquarie Street
GPO Box 1751
Hobart TAS 7001
Phone: 03 6233 3373
Fax: 03 6233 3800
Email: EnvironmentEnquiries@environment.tas.gov.au