The Committee provided a direct point of contact between the community, industry and the EPA on air quality, odour and monitoring. Representation included community, local business, industry, health, government and technical and regulatory experts. The Committee met between December 2011 and October 2014.
Rutherford Air Quality
The Rutherford Industrial Estate (RIE) consists of a mixture of small to medium scale industries, regulated by Maitland City Council or the EPA. RIE had been the focus of community complaints for several years, with over 700 complaints received by the EPA between 2008 and 2015 from Rutherford, Aberglasslyn, Farley, Windella and Telarah residents.
The EPA undertook actions to identify the most prominent sources of odour and address RIE air quality and odour issues. These included:
- ongoing inspections of licensed industries within the RIE
- reviewing complaints received by the EPA about odours
- reviewing monitoring data to determine the effectiveness of pollution control equipment
- conducting a focused campaign to identify specific odour issues.
RIE odour complaints to the EPA fell significantly from winter 2015 to June 2016, indicating these measures were effective in reducing odours experienced in the residential community.
The EPA continues to work to improve air quality in this area.