ORC partnered with The Air Quality Collective to deliver the community science project, which saw 23 households monitor air quality both inside and outside their homes between 18 May and 30 June.
Monitoring was also carried out at St Joseph's School throughout the six-week programme. The participating households included 11 families from St Joseph's School and 12 recruited through local volunteer coordinator Ayushi Kachhara.
The Air Quality Collective Director and project lead, Dr Ian Longley, said the project had already revealed some clear patterns in how winter air pollution behaves across Ōamaru.
"It’s shown the real value of communities collecting environmental data alongside scientists," Dr Longley said.
"Although detailed analysis is still underway, we can already see that air pollution in Ōamaru varies across both time and location. Some evenings air quality remained good across much of the town, while other areas experienced pockets of significantly higher pollution."
"The highest concentrations of particulate matter consistently occurred during the early evening, generally between 5pm and 7pm, which strongly suggests home heating smoke was the main source."
Dr Longley said another early observation was that indoor air quality closely reflected outdoor conditions.
"Many participating homes appeared to be well ventilated, which is generally positive.
However, it also allowed smoke from outside to enter homes, where it often lingered for several hours."
"On average, indoor air quality was remarkably similar to outdoor air quality, although further analysis will examine differences between individual homes.”
ORC Air Quality Scientist Sarah Harrison said the project was helping build a better understanding of air quality in communities where less monitoring information has historically been available.
Dr Longley is now validating the data so it can be confidently compared with ORC’s regulatory monitoring network before any conclusions are drawn.
"The early observations suggest particulate matter levels in Ōamaru were generally lower than we've seen during similar monitoring in some parts of Central Otago. However, there were still occasions where air pollution reached elevated levels, reminding us that smoke from home heating can affect air quality even in communities that aren't traditionally considered pollution hotspots."
Ms Harrison said the Schools Air Watch project complemented ORC's wider investment in understanding air quality across Otago.
"ORC currently has a mobile air quality station operating in Ōamaru for the winter, measuring fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Together, these projects provide a more complete picture of local air quality."
The findings from Ōamaru will help inform similar Schools Air Watch projects beginning next week at Te Kura o Take Kārara in Wānaka and Hāwea Flat School.
Once analysis is complete, the Ōamaru results will be shared with participants, the school, and the wider community. Progress on the Schools Air Watch programme can be followed on The Air Quality Collective’s project page.
