Is this the most polluted road?

St Anne Street in Floriana is probably Malta's most polluted road, according to figures released by the Ministry of Transport this week.

The road is the main artery between the park-and-ride and the busy capital Valletta, so it attracts thousands of cars and buses every day and suffers especially from peak time congestion.

According to the statistics compiled by the planning authority, St Anne Street is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to three dangerous air pollutants: particulate matter, benzene and nitrogen dioxide. All these contribute in some way to respiratory diseases ranging from asthma to lung cancer.

Benzene and nitrogen dioxide were measured periodically from 131 sites around Malta and Gozo while particulate matter was monitored continuously at a much smaller number of specific sites.

The Air Quality Plan released on Monday lists the roads, among those studied, that exceeded the acceptable values.

St Anne Street is clearly the most worrying mentioned and it was also highlighted as a "hot spot" in a similar report issued five years ago by the University and the Environment Protection Department.

Other problem roads mentioned were Eucharistic Congress Road in Mosta, Valley Road, Birkirkara, St Joseph's High Street in Ħamrun, Żabbar Road, Fgura, Rue D'Argens, Sliema and Nikol Sawra Street, in Rabat. Msida was also flagged as a congestion hub and a problem area, especially for particulate matter.

When contacted, Alfred Vella, former head of the University's Chemistry Department, said it was very likely that St Anne Street was the most polluted road in Malta but, since no research ever studied every single road, this could not yet be proven.

Having been one of the main researchers in the 2003 report, he said the situation was even worse in tunnels were there was an "interesting soup of pollutants". He advised people to be cautious when using such problem roads.

"In well-maintained cars, one thing you could do is roll up your windows and switch on the air conditioning," he said, adding that in older cars this might not have an effect because pollutants finding their way inside the cars may be even worse.

He said people should avoid jogging and walking during peak congestion hours and those who lived or worked in the vicinity should try as much as possible to remain indoors with doors and windows closed.

Medical doctor and environmentalist George Debono said the statistics were very worrying and, if other hotspots were to be studied, the findings might be even more alarming. He said the public seemed to be in denial about the level of pollution in Malta despite the high percentages of respiratory diseases.

His organisation, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, will soon be launching a petition about air pollution, calling for the government to take direct action and for vehicles to be tested immediately for emissions rather than being given the chance to clean up their act.

Since 2004, St Anne Street has consistently exceeded the acceptable annual limit of benzene (5μg/m3) and nitrogen oxide (405μg/m3).

When it comes to cancer-causing pollutant benzene, the level in St Anne Street has never fallen below 6.4μg/m3 and, in 2004, it reached a peak of 7.35μg/m3.

Meanwhile, nitrogen dioxide levels in St Anne Street reached more than double the acceptable limit in the past three years, hitting a peak of 98.4μg/m3 in 2007. This chemical exacerbates asthma and it is argued that it could also cause some respiratory diseases.

Even when it comes to particulate matter - one of the most dangerous pollutants - Floriana exceeded the daily acceptable limit 107 times between 2004 and 2006.

The particulate matter monitoring site in Floriana was decommissioned in 2007 so there are no figures for that year. But St Anne Street was singled out as needing "drastic measures" to bring down the particulate matter to acceptable levels.

Particulate matter is particularly dangerous because it remains suspended in the air for a long time and, since it is made up of extremely fine particles, they easily find themselves into the depths of people's lungs and may also make their way into the blood stream.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com