Air quality in Tweed Heads West

How bad is the air quality in Tweed Heads?

Tweed Heads, the northernmost town situated on New South Wales’ coastline and bordering the neighbouring state of Queensland, is located on the Tweed River within Australia. Tweed Heads experiences relatively healthy air quality most of the year round, as is the case across most of Australia. However, as with the wider country and New South Wales state, Tweed Heads can also be vulnerable to experiencing short-term extreme air pollution events, such as those caused by bushfires and dust storms.

The main pollutants of concern within Tweed Heads’ state of NSW are particulate matter and ozone, since these are the pollutants which most frequently exceed Australia’s nationwide air quality standards, called the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (Air NEPM).¹ Australia’s government established the NEPM standards as a benchmark to minimise the negative health impacts of air pollution upon Australians, therefore, exceedances represent some cause for health concern. Particulate matter describes tiny airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 or 10 micrometres in diameter, abbreviated as PM2.5 or PM10 respectively. As a pollutant, PM is particularly hazardous to human health since its microscopic size enables the particles to travel deep into the human system when inhaled, causing a range of health effects.

Real-time air quality levels can be observed in the Tweed Heads air quality map at the top of this page, along with a 7-day Tweed Heads air quality forecast. Both these can be viewed at any time on-the-go, along with custom air quality alerts, using the IQAir AirVisual air quality app.

What are the health impacts of air quality in Tweed Heads?

Despite Tweed Heads’ state of New South Wales generally experiencing relatively low levels of pollution most of the year round, in comparison with global locations, even this low level of air pollution can lead to serious health impacts. The World Health Organisation emphasises that there is no known “safe” limit below which air pollution, particularly particulate matter pollution, may cause no negative health impacts.² Accordingly, research has calculated that even with New South Wales’ relatively healthy air, Sydney’s air pollution contributes to 520 premature deaths and 6,300 cumulative lost years of life within the state capital city, along with 1,180 additional hospital admissions annually.¹ The health burden posed by New South Wales air pollution is furthermore estimated to cost $6.4 billion (in terms of 2015 AUD, equivalent to approximately $4.9 billion USD) within the NSW Greater Metropolitan Region.¹

What are the main sources of Tweed Heads air pollution?

The main sources of particulate air pollution in New South Wales include coal mining, wood heaters used in homes, electricity generation, motor vehicles and industry. Ozone is not generated by any one direct source, since it is a secondary pollutant: meaning that it is formed through chemical reactions between other ‘precursor’ pollutants in the air in the presence of sunlight, namely nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Further PM pollution can also be formed via precursor pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide (SO₂), NO₂, VOCs and ammonia.¹

Is Tweed Heads affected by the fires in Australia?

Australia is prone to experiencing fires on an annual basis to varying extents, with an established fire season. Fires are most often started naturally, for example through a lightning strike, although they can also be started through human intervention, either accidentally (such as from an accidental spark) or deliberately, through planned burning or arson. During the summer of 2019-2020, Australia experienced a particularly devastating fire season, known as the “black summer”. This season was particularly extreme, since it followed months of record-breaking temperatures, drought and low rainfall, exacerbating the conditions for fires to ignite and spread. During the black summer, New South Wales was the worst hit state within Australia, followed by neighbouring state of Victoria.³

Tweed Heads is no exception, in being susceptible to experiencing New South Wales fires either directly through blazes within the town, or indirectly by experiencing bushfire smoke blown in from nearby. Near the start of NSW’s black summer in August 2019, Tweed experienced several fires which led to a public air pollution warning being issued, advising residents to take extra care to avoid the negative health impacts from smoke exposure.⁴ While the beginning of 2020-2021’s fire season had recorded less blazes within NSW than the previous summer by the early stage of July 2020, Tweed Heads had already experienced its first major blaze by August 2020, with smoke pollution coming from fire near the close by town of Duranbah.⁵

Live wildfire updates are provided in the Tweed Heads air quality map at the top of this page, along with real-time Tweed Heads air quality index readings from satellite data, to stay on top of ongoing fire smoke hazards.

What is Tweed Heads doing about air pollution?

Tweed Heads air pollution is managed by both the New South Wales state government, in addition to the Tweed Shire local Council. The New South Wales government is responsible for monitoring air quality levels in key locations across the state, to try to ensure compliance with Australia’s wider air quality standards, the Air NEPM. However, the NSW government has not deployed any government monitoring stations measuring the air northwards of Newcastle’s air quality on the state’s coast, meaning that there is no live governmental air quality monitoring within Tweed Heads. Given this northern area of NSW’s coast’s considerable and growing population, researchers suggest that more live monitoring is needed in this area in the near future, to better inform residents about their air quality to enable actions to protect their health.⁶

Tweed Shire Council, meanwhile, has authority to handle certain local air quality issues within the Tweed Heads area. This authority includes handling complaints regarding air pollution nuisances, which may stem from industry, dust nuisances, odours, spray drift, or smoke coming from backyard burning, chimney smoke, or cigarette smoke among other sources.⁷

+ Article resources

[1] NSW Government. “Consultation paper: Clean Air for NSW”. NSW Government EPA website, 2016.
[2] World Health Organisation. “Ambient (outdoor) air pollution”. WHO website, May 2, 2018.
[3] BBC. “Australia fires: Life during and after the worst bushfires in history”. BBC website, April 28, 2020.
[4] Tweed Daily News. “Warning for Tweed over air pollution”. Tweed Daily News, August 27, 2019.
[5] Peter Hannam. “Fast-moving fire in north-east NSW marks first big blaze of the season”. The Sydney Morning Herald, August 19, 2020.
[6] Claudia Jambor, Wiriya Sati. “Calls for air quality monitoring as northern NSW braces for severe bushfire season”. ABC Mid North Coast, September 6, 2019.
[7] Tweed Shire Council. “Air Pollution”. Tweed Shire Council website, April 28, 2020.