Particles in the air: It's not all our fault, Malta tells the EU
The air quality monitoring station in Msida.
The European Commission has accepted Malta’s arguments on air quality after the government, with the aid of EU-suggested methodology that included satellite pictures, proved that in many cases, Malta failed EU air quality thresholds because of natural causes.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in reply to a parliamentary question that the permissible limit of PM10 (particulate matter) as measures at the Msida fixed monitoring station had been exceeded 52 times, when the EU directive allowed only 35 such exceedances a year.
Malta had applied to the Commission for an extension of the time to reach conformity with the determined level. This had led to an Air Quality Plan, issued this January.
Through research using methodology suggested by the EC itself, including satellite pictures, background trajectory modelling, chemical speciation and PM10 to PM2.5 ratios, Malta had proved that 16 of the 52 exceedances were attributable to dust from the Sahara Desert. Six of the remaining 36 exceedances were attributable to aerosol coming in over the sea.
The European Commission had accepted Malta's arguments that 22 of the 52 exceedances reported were attributable to natural sources, Dr Gonzi said. There was therefore no need for the application.
Nonetheless, Dr Gonzi pledged, Malta remained committed to implementing the Air Quality Plan.
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René Micallef
Jun 26th 2010, 22:15
Note that the monitoring station itself is an eyesore contributing to "visual pollution"! If this structure has monitored pollution for over a year to provide such statistics, it cannot be considered a "temporary structure". Can we not design something better to 'decorate' our largest yacht marina?
I must say, however, that the spot chosen is quite a good one to measure pollution. Besides road traffic, one has to add the sea spray and the pollution from the yachting industry, fine dust accumulating in silt from rainwater and from non-stop building activity in the area.
Pule' Carmel
Jun 26th 2010, 14:32
I hate being an Engineer . IT IS ALWAYS MY FAULT!
Most other professions, complain, talk, publish , survey, want to use all engineering conveniences, and yet at the end of the day, all start looking for an engineer to solve all problems emanating from the technical luxcuries which they enjoy. The other day I was listening to a female member of society grumbling about polution in Malta and informed her that Malta imports 85,000 tons of detergents every year which finishes in the sea through the kitchen sink and burns a few milllion tons of fuel every year to generate electricity, water whose byproducts affect all of us. I told her that she could help by not using detergents and through not using her car. Her only comment was .IIIIIIIIIIIsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Le hej!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!No matter what precautions are taken, engineering product would always pollute including , solar panels during their manufacturing and batteries after they are disposed of. And the pollution in producing ONE car is yet to be measured.But if you start telling this to anybody he will simple reject listening and tell you " Go and say that to someone else!!!"
We all shall proceed to passs the buck.
Joe Fenech
Jun 26th 2010, 16:16
Mr Pulé, I think that all one can do is to try and improve things not to eliminate conveniences.
What happens in Malta - which frustrates many - is that we're not keeping up with new technologies and we are not adhering to ethical concepts (wasting less, using energy saving products...).
Pule' Carmel
Jun 26th 2010, 17:12
There I fully agree, we should waste less and use less. The interesting part of this is that whatever is advertise on the Media for us to buy, except food does polllute. Though, in order to produce food, we do pollute a lot, though canned food, tractors, fishing boats, transporting it.
What is worrying me now, is that the world population is growing exponentially and one can immagine the pollution rate, that, shall bring with it, just to produce food, more tractors , more fishing boats more fertilizer, more transport, more canning,more preservatives salts not to mention the pollution necessary to produce all the components as cement, we have in our Maltese houses, most of the contents are totally unecessary,just decorative. Just go to any home or any Sunday car boot sale. I believe we have reached the point of no return. I wonder why at this moment I am thinking of the little lemmings!!! We have plenty of cliffs in Malta, as leaving rom shallow lands would bring us face to face with immigeants coming from overseas. I just wonder if the universe or earth have been through this before! I am thinking of the big dynasaurs this time
Raymond Cutajar
Jun 26th 2010, 17:20
Sir with due respect to you and all re chamber of engineers ' members I find it quite odd to say the least how come that one will not see a mounting challenge from such a noble professional body in that to put it blunt to the Govt .
How is it possibile that the VRT has been in effect for more than ten and a half years and unnucsaptabile levels of exhaust emissions are still the order of the day ?
Mind you I wish to direct this to Brussel's E P dept for road transport safety and also to the local colleges and teachers who teaches Automobile Engineering . you see teachers how good repair practices are applied once your students hit the working road ?!
joe scerri
Jun 26th 2010, 11:17
Buses, garbage trucks and other vehicles emitting carcinogenic fumes
Emissions from power stations
Dust from bulding sites and quarries
What is being done about the above besides nothing?
m azzopardi
Jun 26th 2010, 10:45
u halluna!!!! unfortunately one of the biggest polluters in Malta are the buses where clouds of black and white smoke are emitted for each and every bus.
I hope that with the public transport reform such emissions are cut. A private car owner is , rightly so ,given hard time during the VRT if his car has higher emissions , while buses seem to have impunity, even after being given so much millions from taxpayers money.
J Brincat
Jun 26th 2010, 10:44
Of course it is not the Government's fault. It is simply ALL our fault. The reason? For happening to live in a country where after 10 whole years the Government has still not established the source of the balck dust.
Incredible but true!
Joe Fenech
Jun 26th 2010, 10:02
GONS, GIVE US A BREAK! YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT!!!!! You act like a little, spoilt boy who won't admit anything. GROW UP!!!!!!
Didn't Alfred Sant say "MALTA IS NOT PREPARED TO GO INTO THE EU" ? Well, here you have it in black and white! The EU bubble has burst a long time ago!
r. cutajar
Jun 25th 2010, 07:24
Dear P M L. Gonzi please STOP ridiculing your country 's citizens
It looks very clear that the EUPHORIA that on joining the EU would bring around is proving too sour.
All sorts of Excuses and obvious back tapping from other E U countries for the obvious same treatment when their time comes around and let Joe and Mary keep on Hoping a dream of HOPES
Ask all of Malta what better Air Quality the Maltese were breathing during the short break of the public buses' strike last time round !
and imagine if all trucks and cars were to be realy up standards to what the E U perceives ( through your govts.depts SPIN )
l fenech
Jun 25th 2010, 03:13
It is now quite obvious that we joined the EU to accomodate the EU.
John Farrugia
Jun 26th 2010, 07:39
That s where you might be wrong. In my opinion it also serves the government. When one asks for justification about something newly implemented the government says its according to our newly accuired EU membership requirements. On the other hand when we plea for some of those other benefits (true or false) the government tells us that EU allows each country to apply its own legislation. Very convenient escape clause for our Government isn t it? And we re the piggy in the middle
Joe Morana
Jun 24th 2010, 16:18
How can the Government expect to be e taken seriously.
" Enemalta last year switched off precipitators which capture flyash emitted from the power station chimneys after a call for tenders for the contract to transport the flyash drew no interest and the storage facillity filled up, it has been explained in Parliament.
After a decade the problem of 'black dust' (not Sahara dust) is till 'officially unresolved'
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said in reply to questions that in July 2008 Enemalta had received an order from Mepa to stop the contractor from transporting flyash" TOM 22/6/2010.
In spite of the Sahara Dust' problem the Government opted for the more polluting HFO fuelled power station.
The Malta Standards Authority has granted special 'oncessions'to polluting 'old buses'
ADT misguided the public whenit arbirarily supended its SMS Emission Alert Scheme for months without informing the public
In the absence of a factual report on the progress made so far the Air Quality Plan seems more like a Pie in the Sky.
Law enforcement regards polluting buses and other vehicles is zilch!!
Air pollion levels in various parts of Malta (not just Pm10) exceed EU safeguard levels.
=D.Callleja
Jun 24th 2010, 14:46
When the Times comes up with 'environmental' articles we always have the same people blogging and voicing the same complaints - saying the same things over and over again ad nauseum.Incredible but true, these bloggers believe that they are always right whatever the facts!!
They truly believe in their crusade as our saviours - the PROFESSORS and EXPERTS who can save the planet from the evil and conniving politicians and capitalists lurking in the shadows, hell bent on committing all these environmental sins and disasters.
Joswph V. Grech
Jun 24th 2010, 13:41
Shame on the E.U. folk at Brussels for accepting our inefficient and irresponsible government's lame excuses!
E.U. citizens have long suspected that the E.U. is only keen on pleasing the national governments....no matter what these do...or do not do! This article now proves how right people are to think of the E.U. in this negative manner!
How can we take the E.U. seriously - it's just a big collection of extremely well paid gals and guys whose only interest seems to be their salaries. And to hell with E.U. citizen rights...and health!
WHAT A SHAME!
George Azzopardi
Jun 24th 2010, 13:06
this article makes me really sick ... Government lacking ideas and is committed to doing nothing ...
Evarist Saliba
Jun 24th 2010, 12:30
When the EU finds fault with our performance it is quoted as authoritative.
When it finds that we are only partly at fault then its views are rubbish.
Why do some people only notice that the glass is half-empty and not half-full?
PM Gonzi has not quoted the EU to justify the present situation, or to claim that nothing else has to be done.
Philip Bonello
Jun 24th 2010, 18:15
Probably it's not you who suffers the black dust, day in and day out. Try living in Paola or Fgura.
JOHN O SCERRI
Jun 24th 2010, 11:56
'The European Commission had accepted Malta's arguments that 22 of the 52 exceedances reported were attributable to natural sources'
Seriously : Please identify what the natural sources are.
Here is a small list to start with : Can these be called natural ?
1. Vehicle exhaust fumes -Toxic
2. Building material -
Chaser dust, jack hammer dust, trucks driving and not covering there load properly or not at all,
3 .Chimneys: Incinerators. power station.
4. Dust generated from landfills.
5. Dust generated from stone quarries.
This country is a dust zone . Leave your windows open for some time and you will find dust settling all over the place in your house or in your car.
Charles Sammut
Jun 24th 2010, 11:44
Oh yeah!!. Whose fault is it then..??
What about the Power Station, The Buses,the unroadworthy vehicles which abound on Maltese roads, the inefficient VRT Test, which we all know does not cover exhaust emissions, etc....etc....
Nooo..its not Malta's fault ! Well whose fault is it then?....Maybe the Maltese Authorities' fault ?!
....and the beat goes on..and the beat goes on ( with apologies to Sonny and Cher )...
Raymond Cutajar
Jun 24th 2010, 13:50
@C Sammut ,sorry to correct you sir emissions testing both petrol and diesel have been law and part of a VRT test for at least the past 6 years years now
Mr Sammut did you ever take your car personally for the VRT ? well presuming you have a car or ever been to a VRT station ?
Stephen Florian
Jun 24th 2010, 11:33
What about the black dust...? Is the moon to blame...?
a caruana
Jun 24th 2010, 11:19
Hear Hear,
Counting particles is easy, finding out what they are made of is not.
Soot is known to contain PCAs (polycyclic aromatics) which are frequently very strongly carcinogenic.
In its location, the station is counting soot from the exhaust pipes most of the time so yes, I would leave it there and put others near other sources of DANGEROUS dust, e.g. opposite the local council in Floriana, at CIty gate terminus
George Debono
Jun 24th 2010, 11:10
So, by means of best scenario creative accounting Malta brushes its pollution under the carpet - and to hell with our health.
Methodology such as satellite pictures, background trajectory modelling, chemical speciation and PM10 to PM2.5 ratios" may sound impressive but what is the use of it if the monitoring stations are placed where they do not obtain a representative picture?
As long as the EC can be fed with good news everybody is happy - and that's the name of the game...
For instance, our buses emit dense black smoke which is LOADED with deadly particulates. Yet even when we can see the haze from bus and other traffic on roads where buses pass, our air monitors, along with fancy creative accounting of the findings, tell us that everything is fine.
If monitors were placed in the middle of Hamrun, Birkirkara or St Julains they would tell a different picture. But then our Govt would have to do something - but that's not the way to play the game…Never mind that things are really as bad as they can be.
G
DVella
Jun 24th 2010, 10:54
Interesting reasoning there . . . as long as it is not our fault and the source is not a local one, it is perfectly OK that our air quality falls below established standards and particulates exceed the thresholds . . . . posing a potential threat to our health ! Wierd logic there . . . so a threat to our health (and our children's) is all right as long as we are not the ones causing it . . . (??!!!!)
Franco DEbono (Xghra, Gozo)
Jun 24th 2010, 10:28
But how long are we going to continue to make fools of ourselves and fools in front of tye international community.
May God help us all.
M attard
Jun 24th 2010, 09:56
Heq mela,mux hek... when all else fails blame the sahara....it sounds very much like clutching at straws,or is it that I am cynical?
William P Flynn
Jun 24th 2010, 09:45
The air quality excesses were excusable; but the aesthetics of the sore thumb monitoring it aren't. Did they have to place it there?
And did the EU Commission need to be told? Everyone knows dust travels hundreds if not thousands of kilometres. It's not like the Sahara happened yesterday.
I saw a dust storm in Melbourne in 1983 from my office window high on a skyscraper and it looked like a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion. (Pictures: Google: Melbourne dust storm 1983).
Tony Gatt
Jun 24th 2010, 11:07
The smoke being belched out from the buses and trucks has nothing to do with it of course.
"Not my fault, guv!!"
Anthony Pace Gouder
Jun 24th 2010, 09:38
U NESA jghaidilhom li l-kumplament , specialment it-TRAB ISWED , huwa kagun tal-VULKAN ETNA , tefa ta'gebla l-boghod minn pajjizna !
Dan huwa inkluz mat -Tletin kaz li jibqghaw ?
>>> 52 - (16 SAHARA + 6 Aerosol) = 30 , u li huma GHALLHEKK accettabbli ghax l-EU TIPPERMETTI 35 KAZ !!!!!
> Dejjem igibgha vicin il-LIKK , dik KAPACITA ! L-aqwa li " IT'S NOT OUR FAULT ! "
Sadattant il-poplu JKOMPLI JIBLA !
J Brownie
Jun 24th 2010, 09:36
Can't figure out how this eqaution squares up : thousands of vehicles+ many old trucks and buses + concentrated in just 316 square kms + breath with difficulty in most streets + very high incidence of respiratory conditions = Acceptable air quality .
Ray Buhagiar
Jun 24th 2010, 10:28
That is the EU way of making sure that everything is acceptable. Have a look at the EU directives, they are made in such a broad way that these directives are always subject to interpretation.
Christian Sciberras
Jun 24th 2010, 09:36
Another 3 "exceedances" to go...
Surely not a problem with our buses (and yes, article writer depicted the situation perfectly with the attached image..).
John Micallef
Jun 24th 2010, 09:26
Is such a monitoring station installed in the very south of Malta??
Did we informed EU that the location of this monitoring station is practically in a valley??
The shame is that this same monitoring station instead of using passive cooling. it's using active cooling.
adrian gatt
Jun 24th 2010, 09:22
So now we will tell our body to eliminate those 22times caused by natural occurences so that it will not get sick. And what about the exceeded benzene and NOx levels, are these also attributed to sahara dust and sea salt. These are all petty excuses so as the government will prolong the deadlines. Everyone knows that polution levels from vehicular and quarry activities are alarming and asthma and cancer rates are going up, even though the health minister said that the south is safer from cancer, purposely ommiting certain areas. The Sliema Residents Association deplores such mentality from government and it will keep up the pressure on people in high responsibility levels to respect the responsibilities they have been given by the common people. Even if one talks in monetary terms,the money saved from half baked pollution control levels will spell havoc on the national health bill due to increased illnesses, in other words -Ekonomija FALZA.
tony abela
Jun 24th 2010, 08:52
What about the other 30 instancies, which ammounts to 58% of the cases.
Natural or man-made reasons we are still not breathing good quality air as far as Particles is concerned. The other types of air polution adds up to more instances where we do not comply.
We still have a long way to go to start breathing the quality of air that the average EU citizens are breathing.