The State of the Environment report released this week found that Coober Pedy has the highest population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations in Australia — which means particles 2.5 microns in diameter, so small that 20 can fit across the width of a human hair.

These particles, which can include anything from outback dust to traffic pollution and bushfire smoke, are tiny enough to get into the lungs, and have been connected with a range of health issues.

Coober Pedy features concentrations of 11.7 μg/m3 — well above United Nations recommendations of a maximum of 8 μg/m3.

In 2018, more than 3,200 deaths were attributed to PM2.5 air pollution, and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found the overall mortality of Australians due to respiratory diseases is higher in remote communities.

Northeast South Australia in general has the highest PM2.5 concentrations in the country — helping fuel the dusty hot northerly winds that bear down on Adelaide in summer.

Mineshafts near Coober Pedy. Photo: Holden Australia

Coober Pedy opal miner Justin Freytag has always been conscious of dust pollution in the mines, but always considered the dusty surrounds of the town to be nothing more than an irritation.

“People just see it as a nuisance, we’re always cleaning up and sweeping the floors,” Freytag said. “The Australian bush is a dusty place.”

Freytag said it is particularly annoying in September and October, when big dust storms roll through and dump residue from the red expanses of the outback.

But it is an issue year-round, with vehicles churning up dust from the town’s dirt roads, and wind picking up desert sands and the opal mine’s mullock heaps.

Coober Pedy. Photo: Stephanie Richards/InDaily

Angaston-based general practitioner Dr Jodi Whillas, who used to work in Indigenous communities in the Coober Pedy region, said she regularly dealt with respiratory issues during her stints there, including lung issues of unknown origin.

“There was a significant amount of asthma in children, adults with chronic obstructive airways,” she told InDaily.

Whillas said that she was unaware of a connection with airborne dust, but noted that Indigenous communities have an elevated risk of respiratory illness than the general population, irrespective of lifestyle factors such as smoking.

Respiratory physician Guy Marks, a Chief Investigator with the Centre for Air Pollution Energy and Health Research, told InDaily that PM2.5 particles have been linked with cardiac disease, strokes, respiratory conditions and cancer.

What has not been established is whether outback dust can cause the same kinds of impacts as the kind of PM2.5 pollution found in cities.

“We are not generally prepared to say certain to say some are less harmful than others, it is likely but not conclusive,” Marks said.

Dr Kathryn Emmerson of the CSIRO, one of the lead authors of the State of the Environment’s chapter on air pollution, told InDaily that the findings were largely based on satellite modelling.

“PM 2.5 is routinely measured, but primarily in cities, so one of the key points in the report is that we want to see more on the ground measurements,” Emmerson said.

This would give researchers a better idea of the causes of the dust — for instance if local opal mining is a factor — and allow real-time alerts for residents when PM2.5 levels are particularly high.

Emmerson would like to see hourly updates that people can check online so they can know whether to close windows, wear N95 masks, or turn on HEPA air filters.

Paving dirt roads and increasing local vegetation can also help reduce dust levels.

“Dust can travel very long distances so it is not an easy fix … but we’ve been able to show that if you can increase the amount of vegetation cover and keep soil moisture higher, it keeps dust emissions down,” she said.

Emmerson noted that climate change in particular was leading to more PM2.5 particles due to duststorms linked to drought and increasingly severe bushfires.

“It’s got to be a concern, for all residents in Australia really … the general density of particles is going up,” she said.