LAKE Macquarie has the dubious honour of recording the state’s highest levels of nitrogen oxides – a major airborne pollutant from coal-fired power stations.
The suburbs and bush surrounding the lake have recorded the second-highest sulphur dioxide emissions, after Muswellbrook, and the fourth-highest emissions of particulate matter (PM10) in the state, after Singleton, Lithgow and Muswellbrook.
A report presented to the city council this week puts health costs from disease and deaths due to air pollution at an average $50million a year. The area has no public air monitoring stations.