Natural sources of contaminants into air include volcanoes, other areas of geothermal activity, pollen, wind-blown dust, sea spray, and organic breakdown.

Contaminants presently or potentially affecting the region’s air quality fit into one or more of the following categories:

• Gases
• Particulates
• Combustion products
• Odours
• Agrichemicals
• Steam
• Geothermal emissions
• Spray-irrigated waste
• Electromagnetic radiation
• Greenhouse gases
• Ozone-depleting substances

In the Bay of Plenty our air quality is generally good but to ensure it stays that way we need to monitor the level of contaminants to establish trends in contaminant levels. There are three main centres in the Bay of Plenty being Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatane. The rest of the region is mainly rural, horticulture and forestry. Environment Bay of Plenty operates 10 air quality-monitoring instruments that continuously monitor air quality.

For more information on air quality monitoring, see the monitoring section of Air.