According to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Alinta Energy has begun sealing the northern side of the Playford power station’s coal storage bins.

It also said it had employed an “industry expert” to give advice on how to further reduce coal dust emissions and will begin a further analysis of air quality monitoring samples.

While residents and local leaders welcomed the new measures, they said they would not be celebrating until they begin to see a significant reduction in the coal dust.

Port Augusta Mayor Joy Baluch said she was angry the power station had “to be pushed” into taking action to fix the decades-long problem.

“We’ll just have to see what the outcomes are,” she said.

Last week the EPA said an analysis of weekly coarse and fine dust particles from January and February showed coal dust and fly ash “does not appear to be the dominant source” of dust in the area.

Instead they blamed the region’s dry, dusty environment.

This statement frustrated local residents, including 36-year Cummins Street resident Jean Nayda. “The people who are telling us about this are in Adelaide.

“To use the excuse that it’s an arid environment is ridiculous ...You can sweep up the red dust but you can’t do that with the black soot.”

She said during recent rains she and her husband noticed black and grey “salt and pepper” like flakes in the water droplets.

“I washed everything on Thursday and the water was just black and on Saturday when I went outside everything is black again.”

This week a spokesperson from the EPA conceded it had no specific levels at which it defined coal dust emissions from Port Augusta’s power station a nuisance.

“Nuisance is determined by a range of factors, including impact on the community and monitoring results,” the spokesperson said.

“We will be looking at the results of Alinta’s data analysis once these results are available.”

On Monday a spokesperson from Alinta Energy said work on air sampling had already begun, however it was too early to know when the new measures and studies would be completed.