After much lobbying and discussions with MTAG, the EPA commenced air quality testing on Francis Street in May 2012.The EPA has installed a mobile testing lab on Francis street on the corner of Fraser Street, close to the Yarraville Community Centre. Testing will take place for 12 months and will test for air quality and noise.
The monitoring will measure particles associated with truck exhaust as well as NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) and Benzoapyene. Of particular interest to residents will be the results for fine particles. In 2001 when the EPA last did monitoring on Francis Street the concentrations matched or exceeded the governments intervention levels on 5 out of 30 days (see EPA publication#821).
These results helped lead to the introduction of curfews on Francis street. However when the EPA re-tested after the introduction of the curfew in 2002 they found lower levels of pollution but explained this as “most likely to be influenced by different weather conditions, in particular wind speed, rather than the effect of the truck curfew (see EPA publication#896)
