Air pollution on our roads has reached pandemic proportions. Five hundred people a year die in Malta of environmental causes. Since we have no major problems with water sanitation, the blame falls squarely on unabated traffic fumes.
Lack of political will and weak enforcement are causing premature death. The Malta statistic of 500 fatalities every year from pollution-related illness came up at a World Health Organisation conference on public health and the environment held in Geneva two years ago.
Since that conference, the number of lives lost to pollution-induced diseases may well have increased. The data on which this figure was based goes back to 2004.
The grimy façade of the Prime Minister's office at Castille is to be restored after years of being 'pummeled' by pollution. Imagine the state of our lungs after years of breathing sooty dust loaded with harmful pollutants.
Smoky tailpipes clog lungs, especially where streets have become canyons of smog because of buildings that rise increasingly higher. Respiratory disease, heart ailments, some cancers and an array of other health problems are all strongly linked to high levels of pollution on our roads.
Brought into force in 1967, the Clean Air Act viewed smoke as little more than a mere nuisance which came out of chimneys, buildings or vessels. Any vessel owned by, or in service of, the government was made exempt. Bakery chimneys were also left out.
After 25 years under this antiquated act, the health minister of the day - Louis Deguara - finally admitted that air pollution had "far surpassed any air quality problems recognised since the act was drafted". At a 2002 seminar, under the banner 'Committed to Healthier Air', the minister came clean:
"The air we breathe has become far more polluted. Industrialisation, development without health impact assessments and affluence resulting in one of the highest car densities in the world have all contributed to the kind of air we breathe today."
Seven years have gone by since then. Things looked hopeful when the mobile phone messaging emissions alert was announced. It ended badly, with the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) admitting that it had ignored text messages sent by civic-minded hopefuls who were labouring under the delusion that they might make a difference. ADT has repented and is now looking at the backlog.
Why not grade vehicles according to their emissions and ban the polluters from highly populated areas as some countries do?
The ADT has been slammed by the audit office for lack of planning and poor enforcement of air quality regulations. The authority dealt with 200,000 text messages received before the system collapsed under a deluge of alerts reporting offenders.
In wild west Gozo, vehicles have been bellowing toxic smoke out of range and below the ADT radar, without reproach.
Offending Maltese vehicles reported by civic-minded citizens could still drive around, spewing dangerous exhaust fumes, for up to two years ahead of their road test (VRT). Even so, up until its collapse, the scheme engendered public trust that something halfway serious was at last being done. ADT's long drawn out and silent abandonment of the emissions alert scheme left the public feeling both foolish and enraged.
The audit also noted the ADT's failure to document operating standards and reporting obligations, adding that communication and accountability lines were "complex and unclear". The text messaging scheme was self-financing but with no monitoring records being kept, transparency was found to be at an all-time low.
Roadside inspections did identify a number of vehicles with excessive emissions. Non-compliant vehicles were found across a range of different engine capacities.
Some were old bangers, but others were not all that old. The audit stressed the critical importance of roadside testing to ensure that vehicles are properly maintained at all times and not just prior to the VRT.
A clean air consultative group, including the environmental health department and other sectors had come up with a draft legal notice that was waiting for cabinet approval. It was hoped to enable the department, under the public health act, to enforce action on matters related to quality air and air pollution.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority is working on an action plan with ADT to reduce air pollution concentrations in specific areas exceeding limit values specified in EU directives.
The first phase of a 'public consultation' was held last May. Stakeholders were invited by Mepa, together with MEUSAC, to suggest policy measures to reduce air pollutant concentrations. Particulate matter, the sooty dust particles so common in diesel exhaust, has been flagged as being of particular concern.
Mepa and ADT are working on a policy document on the reduction of traffic emissions. A summary of the public consultation is expected to be made available on Mepa's website soon. By the end of this year an overdue national action plan for air quality is set to see the light of day.
A campaign by a Sliema resident to get excessive air pollution levels in the Savoy Hill area reduced has not yet produced the desired result. Another pocket of civil society resistance to bad air is in Fgura.
But initiatives promoting better air quality needs an integrated approach. Diverting traffic away from one area only to cause pollution in another street is no solution.
Following a question by the Green Party, the European Commission is considering infringement procedures against the government; the Commission was kept waiting for a report on particulate matter (black dust emitted from diesel engines). No doubt the results of this report will be made public as people continue to choke on traffic emissions while still fuming at the ADT charade.