A popular Central Otago tourist town has a dirty problem - its air quality.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has been monitoring Arrowtown's air pollution through winter and has found some concerning results.
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It turns out that one of the most picturesque places in New Zealand has some of the worst air pollution in Australasia
"Where air quality is improving in many towns around the country, in Arrowtown it's consistently staying poor," Dr Ian Longley from NIWA told Newshub.
This winter NIWA installed 22 air quality monitors across the Central Otago township while another 21 monitors are inside residents' homes where smog can seep in.
Data from the monitors revealed the town's air quality breached New Zealand's standards eight times this winter when the outside temperature dropped below zero, opening the door for potential health problems.
Arrowtown's location - in a basin, near a hillside - together with residents' reliance on log burners for home heating, is to blame.
"They're sheltered in sheltered valleys, they're sheltered from the wind - where the wind blows pollution away in places like Wellington and Auckland, here it just lingers, it persists," Longley added.
It's a dirty problem for a picturesque tourist town desperately in need of a healthier solution.
Newshub.
