Katherine Times has received questions from readers on the new station which we believe cost about $200,000 located adjacent to the cricket oval which was built as a result of an agreement with the NT Environment Protection Authority.

The NT EPA has identical air monitoring stations located around the Top End, Winnellie, Palmerston and Stokes Hill.

Those stations, which now includes Katherine, provide real time online information available to the public on any dangerous pollutants in the air.

That online advice is available here.

The main pollutant in the Top End region is smoke from distant and local vegetation burning during the dry season.

The Territory Day tyre fire last year, which led to the construction of the air monitoring station, created a pall of toxic black smoke which lingered over Katherine South for days.

Residents were advised to stay indoors.

The tyre fire itself kept burning underground for five months.

Federal authorities require the EPA to provide these air quality warnings "that allows for the adequate protection of human health and well-being".

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