Key Points

Air

• The geography of the City makes it particularly susceptible to air pollution.
• Smoke levels in the City exceeded the 24 hour guideline (120 µ g/m³) during 1 day in 1996.
• Smoke levels exceeded the new Canterbury Regional Council 24 hour guideline (50 µ g/m³) during 26 days in 1996.
• In recent years the number of days when the 24 hour smoke guideline has been exceeded is low compared to the early 1980s.

Water

• Approximately 50 million cubic metres of water are abstracted annually from the Christchurch- West Melton aquifer system by the City Council and pumped through the City’s reticulation system.
• Water demand per head of population in Christchurch has been fairly constant over recent years and is expected to continue at or near existing usage.
• Water drawn from all wells feeding the City’s supply comply with the "Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand 1995" without being treated.

Soils

• There is approximately 8600 hectares of high quality class 1 and 2 soils in the rural area of Christchurch City.
• Much of the poor quality soils in Christchurch City are associated with areas on the Port hills, the coastal zone and areas associated with the Waimakariri gravels.

Waste

• Christchurch produced 254,293.2 tonnes of refuse in the year to June 1996. Of this figure just under 238,000 tonnes was landfilled at the Burwood landfill site, while 16,498.3 tonnes went to the City’s composting plant.
• Over the last two years, the amount of landfilled solid waste has declined. This is attributable to the reduction in landfilled ‘clean green waste’ which is now taken to the Councils Composting Plant.
• The 1996 Annual Survey of Residents showed that newspapers were recycled by 81 percent, glass by 60 percent and aluminium cans by 40 percent of City residents.