Air quality station at Callan Park temporarily closed by trees

THE inner west’s only permanent point for measuring air quality has been switched off after trees were found growing too close to the monitoring station at Callan Park.

The air quality station is located at Callan Park. Pic: John Grainger

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THE inner west’s only permanent point for measuring air quality has been switched off after trees were found growing too close to the monitoring station at Callan Park.

In an ironic turn, the Office of Environment and Heritage has been forced to temporarily close the air quality monitoring station after an internal report found the building has not complied with national standards since 2016.

The report — released five days before the station’s closure on February 14 — found the site has not met “exposure criteria” set by the National Environment Protection Council due to trees planted closer than 20m from the site.

The station also failed to have a clear “sky angle” of 120 degrees — the benchmark used to ensure accurate readings.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Environment and Heritage said “the upgrade works were required to bring the station up to current specifications”.

Trees were planted closer than 20m from the site. Pic Jenny Evans

She said the heritage precinct restricted tree removal, however, air quality data would be offline for “four to six weeks” while “upgrades” were carried out.

The building, which opened in 1978, is the only measuring station monitored by the department in the inner west.

It is used to measure ozone, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, relative humidity and solar radiation. Readings from the site showed there were three spikes in air pollution above national standards last year which the OEH traced to “hazard reduction burns” in Sydney and further afield.

The readings included two breaches of PM2.5 fine particulate matter, which can also be traced to fuel combustion from vehicles and other industrial and residential sources.

The breaches also included one exceedence of the 50 micrograms per cubic metre standard for PM10 levels — the threshold for which NSW Health warns “people with heart or lung disease should reduce exercising outdoors”.

The compliance report showed the air quality monitoring stations at Chullora, and Earlwood have also failed to meet national exposure standards due to trees.