New 'tailor-made' quarry conditions to control dust
People living close to quarries could soon breathe a sigh of relief as Mepa launches a system to control the release of dust particles.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority is drawing up a new permit system that will see regulations tailor-made for quarries in different localities.
"The problems faced by operators in Mqabba are different from those experienced in Naxxar or San Pawl tat-Tarġa," Michael Sant, responsible for industry and permits within Mepa's Environment Protection Directorate, said.
All quarries will have to abide by the new regime and operators will be required to start the process by the end of the year.
Mr Sant explained that permits, including existing ones, were issued on a short-term basis and quarries would need to adhere to the new system once their current permit expired. This will be a far cry from the situation in the past. Until the 1980s, quarry owners only required a police permit to start digging. The planning authority had later set boundaries and imposed limits on excavations.
Residents of towns and villages close to quarries have long complained they were living in a cloud of dust, even blaming the dust from quarries for health problems, like asthma.
Mr Sant said quarries in Attard, which were also used for waste disposal, were located very close to residents. There were hard stone quarries in the locality, which employed blasting and crushing, while quarries in Mqabba handled soft stone, which meant noise and dust levels were lower.
The impact of dust on Dingli residents from quarries in the locality was limited because trucks passed through isolated roads to leave the quarry area. Thus, the dust would have diminished by the time they reached a residential area.
With this in mind, the directorate is reviewing the level of activity in the quarrying sector, including quarrying itself, recycling of construction and demolition waste, land filling of inert waste and ancillary activities like tarmac production. There are between 80 and 90 operational quarries in Malta. These have been grouped into 12 clusters with different needs.
Mr Sant said that while certain conditions, such as how to refill a quarry and what material to use, would be standard to all quarries there would also be site-specific measures.
"We are looking at quarries' proximity to residential or protected areas and the nature of the activity carried out in the different quarries," he said.
Some operators might need to buy wheel-washing equipment, others gear to mist the quarry to control dust, while others might be asked to get bank guarantees.
Operators will soon be contacted and called in for meetings with Mepa officials, who will explain the procedure and help them start implementing the necessary measures. "We will walk them through the process because there is a natural reluctance to abide by new regulations," Mr Sant said. He said that in the future, permits would be tied with other regulatory obligations, such as only allowing those with a valid permit to bid for government tenders.
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J. Schembri
Jun 2nd 2010, 21:39
In Zurrieq there is a hard stone quarry which needs it's dust road to be asphalted. In summer the dust whitens all the carob trees in the area and fills houses with a fine dust from Nigret to Bubaqra , in winter the road dust is carried to the sea creating a white creamy patch after every rainfall.
Michael Bonnici
Jun 2nd 2010, 20:56
Follow a truck after it had unloaded the franka stone and you will notice the amount of dust spread over the whole distance while returning back to base. Its immaterial whether the load is sprinkled with water. Franka stone is highly absorbent and our dry weather complicates matter.
Trucks and vans who cover their load whether franka stone, demolition work etc., is a total farce. It is just a cover for the sake of abiding with the law.
If one has to be serious in this case there must be strict regulations covering dusty material while being transported while following these proposals:
Filling should not be above the brim of the truck (to avoiding spilling), secondly tightly covered with special material that really avoid the dust going up in the air and thirdly it has to be covered again while returning back to business or otherwise.
Daniel Hatto
Jun 2nd 2010, 14:36
its more like "off the shelf" then "tailor made' heh
Andrew Cumbo
Jun 2nd 2010, 13:39
A sigh of relief from quarry dust particles, but then MEPA approve a power station extension to run with heavy fuel oil which may lead to hazardous emissions. Approvals when nothing yet clear, of how we are going to dispose from the big amount of heavy fuel oil sludge remains.
But dear all don’t worry now, in replacement for this inconvenience MEPA is going to make good with the new quarry dust conditions!!
J Borg
Jun 2nd 2010, 13:04
Lija residents have been living with this problem for years,dust from the brick factory but what can us common citizen do against these GIANT businessman?
DVella
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:52
What a JOKE . . . . even more regulations and conditions . . . and considering that whenever an application for quarrying operations for a fixed term of one year is submitted, MEPA end up reaching a decision months after that year has passed . . . where does that leave us?? Who is going to enforce these conditions anyway?? The good officers of the Enforcement Section?? Don't make us laugh!!! It is an open secret that they are scared stiff of the quarry owners and don't want to go anywhere near them!!!
EGauci
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:46
I suggest that the dear readers keep dreaming that there will ever be enforcement of this nature. There are currently existing regulations for quarries on the amounts of explosives to use. Am also told there are inspectors to oversee this is done correctly - i do not understand howcome I feel my house shaking when there's rock cutting in a quarry 2 KM away from where i live. This is almost on a bi to tri-weekly basis. The tremmors emmiting from T'Alla w Ommu quarry speak for themselves.. ask the residents in the whole Naxxar area for confirmation.
Mark Napier
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:41
Any measures to reduce dust are commendable however I believe that the problem is not mainly at the quarries but en route. What is really needed is a learning process where trucks carrying anything volatile would be required to cover the load with adequate type of material ( non porous) , to ensure that there is no spillage. I am sure that most of the readers have experienced trucks having some type of agricultural green shade material flapping about and sending clouds of dust throughout the route. It is this type of dust emission that needs to stop. I am sure that if the load is precious, say grain , every precaution would be taken to ensure that none is lost en route.
mario v. gauci
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:11
Do these regulations apply to the Maghtab dump (the white rubble mountain)? When the wind direction is from the south all the cars in Qawra are covered in a sticky white film of fine dust, and naturally one has to keep home windows shut as otherwise all inside will be covered with this white dust. One shudders to think the amount of dust we have to inhale.
g. scerri
Jun 2nd 2010, 11:55
Every little helps, but when one considers that all of Malta is one building site, will just regulating the quarries free us of dust? There is a big building site in my street and the winds that have been blowing daily for over a month now have forced dust even through windows that of necessity have to be kept shut. Oh yes, I'll be told there are regulations covering building sites too; Malta has enough regulation to cover the whole of the EU but the question is one of enforcement. Without the latter everything that is done is more in the nature of a promise than a reality.
Alfred Muscat
Jun 2nd 2010, 11:06
Good job.....but what about land reclamination....someone mentioned Mellieha....wovered whole streches of land covered with thyme (saghtar) from which bees extract a very good and precious quality honey are being destroyed to be turned into fields...with who's permission?
L. Bonello
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:52
With no doubt, this is a good and valuble project that MEPA wants to implement, however will the government provide subsidies for such machinary? Lets face it, we live in Malta and most of our houses are built from soft stone or concrete, which needs raw material from quarries, so lets start to join forces and provide the quarry industry support in implementing such changes and not merely hate their guts for even exisiting.
M. Farrugia
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:07
Well said!
We shall keep it mind that our soft stone limestone is one of the only two raw materials from this small island! (MEPA states that the only raw materials in Malta are Soft Stone Limestone and Sea Salt)
Another point is that the majority of the soft stone quarries are small businesses which cannot be compared with big contractors anyway.
Ganni Ellul
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:51
May I ask if the same enforcement officers who came to visit a building site at Zabbar would be employed to oversee these new regulations?The contractor was demolishing a cantilevered balcony with the resultant material falling 2 floors to the pavement, they reported back that the contractor was only demolishing a parapett wall.(which by the way had been demolished three days before.)Halluna kwieti ghax ma tafux x intom tghamlu
r ferriggi
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:48
may i also add:
lately,,, ewn there wer high winds blowing, one could see a thick white dust cloud emerging fom the QALA quarry.
this could be seen FROM MELLIEHA!!!!!!
any inspections there?? and again...... when will this qarry stop growing like a big monster.
Jesmond Micallef
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:39
Its nice to read of good progress in this direction here.
If I may quote : "Some operators might need to buy wheel-washing equipment, others gear to mist the quarry to control dust". I find this rather interesting indeed as water will definitely help in keeping the dust particles under control. The use of water in the cutting process may also help dampen the noise too. I dont actually know what kind of cutting wheel is generally used but tend to suspect that this might be a simple diamond or tungsten carbide tiped type. Noise generation is pretty much dependent on the dynamics and mechanics of the cutting process here so there may also be potential for University and/or MCAST study.
The water misting principle is also very interesting. A very good challenge indeed.
Stone slab production should also be minimised, promoted through recycling of existing slabs, even though I tend to suspect that re-machining or re-sizing would be required to some extent.
Cool, good news indeed.
M. Farrugia
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:39
L-ewwel nett trid issir distinzjoni bejn barrieri tal-Franka (Soft stone) u barrieri tal-Qawwi (Hard stone). Din li t-trab tal-barrieri tal-franka jista jkun kawza tal-Azma hi l-ikbar gidba, sakemm m hawnx xi studju jikkonkludi kontra.
Barrieri tal-Franka m hawnx 80ijiet u 90ijiet.... qas baqa xoghol ghal 10 nahseb!
Qabel ix-xoghol tal-bini kien kollu bil-GEBLA MALTIJA u hadd ma kien jichadda! Imma issa le kollox kontra... l-flus l-ewwel u qabel kollox ghal periti allura nuza l-briks li jigi jiswa iktar flus minn kieku tibni bil-gebla unika ta Malta. Il-gebla Maltija taghmel 500sena u ma jigrilha xejn, l-konkos jaghmel 50 sena u jkollu jitwaqqa.
Il-barrieri tal-Franka bhalissa l-awtoritajiet jriduhom biss biex issoddu t-toqob temporanjament ta' haddiehor (tal-blat tajjeb li qed jintremma) u jordmuhom. Barriera wara ohra qed taghlaq ... ftit snin ohra u nitilfu parti ohra mill-kultura ta' Malta, l-gebla tal-Franka!
Mqabbi
Renato Camilleri
Jun 2nd 2010, 12:52
Did you do some research into how much fine dust (PM10) is generated from soft stone quarries in Malta? Well someone did and they calculated that over 1200 tons of fine dust are generated per year. Also, check the WHO website and read articles on "pulmonary dust load" to see that even "harmless dust" can cause pulmonary problems.
r ferriggi
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:25
may i ask the related authorities, the mellieha local council and MEPA :
i have lately passed by the MELLIEHA quarry on the road to manikata.
the environment and nature in that area are sublime, probably unique in malta.
may i ask whrther thi quarry is going to CONTINUE AND CONTINUE to grow and grow,,, eating up more countyside??
the melieha people ( no to mention ALL maltese) want an answer about this??
L Fenech
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:24
What about the 5 story buildings round already built up 2 story buildings. All day long sawing bricks with circular saws and the builders do not care which way the wind is blowilng. We have tiled roofs and roof gardens all day covered in white brick dust ruining our plants. Keep it up MEPA you are an asset to the present Government and Gonzi.
Peter Murray
Jun 2nd 2010, 10:10
Will there be "tailor-made" and stringent enforcement to ensure these new control measures are actually enacted?As we already possess many regulations relating to dust control which are blatantly violated and disregarded everyday and all these perpetrators get away with these contraventions due to totally inadequate monitoring and punishment.Pardon the pun,but these "new" regulations will bite the dust just like the rest.