Is Canterbury air quality really improving like ECan say?

Good timing! Just as CONA gets underway in Rangiora, a story appears in The Press (10^thAugust 2015), and elsewhere, covering the latest air quality monitoring data from Environment Canterbury (ECan). The Press article states:

“Christchurch's air quality is improving but there are still too many high pollution days, monitoring data shows.

The article also mentions that Rangiora has again failed to meet the National Standards that it is legally required to do so by 2016. However, understanding whether air quality is, or is not getting better is much more complicated than you might think. Being able to answer this seemingly basic question is one of the main scientific aims of CONA. To find out more check out our longer article on the topic.