The various sources of noise pollution (1)

Noise is noise and if annoying noise has been implicated as a cause of ill health, all sources of such noise can cause ill health. In his contribution (September 3), Mario de Marco stated that EU Directive 2002/49/EC does not deal with workplace noise, construction noise, entertainment noise, noise nuisance (syn: annoyance), fireworks noise, consumer product noise and noise transmission within and between dwellings and other forms of “neighbourhood noise”. The actual wording in the directive states (article 2, paragraph 2 “This Directive shall not apply to noise that is caused by the exposed person himself, noise from domestic activities, noise created by neighbours, noise at work places or noise inside means of transport or due to military activities in military areas”.

The directive does not specifically exclude construction noise, entertainment noise and fireworks noise. The long distance transmission of the noise from the latter two sources could fall under the provisions of article 2, paragraph 1, which states, “This Directive shall apply to environmental noise to which humans are exposed in particular in built-up areas, in public parks or other quiet areas in an agglomeration, in quiet areas in open country, near schools, hospitals and other noise-sensitive buildings and areas”.

As regards Dr de Marco’s exclusion of construction noise (including quarrying activities) which we were told falls under the Building Regulations Office, this is clearly a policy decision but such activities can fall squarely within the remit of the directive which states (article 1, paragraph 2), “This Directive shall also aim at providing a basis for developing Community measures to reduce noise emitted by the major sources, in particular road and rail vehicles and infrastructure, aircraft, outdoor and industrial equipment and mobile machinery”.

In the first round of noise data collection, agglomerations (populated areas) with more than 250,000 inhabitants and roads with traffic flow of six million vehicles per year were considered. On these criteria Malta has no agglomeration of over 250,000 inhabitants and a limited number of roads which had the required traffic flow. These criteria remain the thresholds on which “action plans” need to be drawn up (article 8).

In the next and subsequent rounds of noise data reporting, the thresholds have been revised to population agglomeration of over 100,000 and roads with traffic flow of over three million per year. This revision created a single agglomeration for the first time centred on the harbour area and included more roads. The fact that aircraft movements in major airports (50,000 per year) have not been amended (halved) excludes the reporting of aircraft noise from Malta’s only airport (26,000 movements per year).

On a technicality, noise from aircraft take-offs and landings, from fireworks and places of entertainment have been excluded from the scope of the directive and from being noteworthy sources of hazardous noise. So has noise from construction, quarrying and industrial activity in industrial areas, ports and harbours, by claiming that the control of noise from such sources fall under the jurisdiction of a handful of different agencies. Popular perception contends that these agencies have had little success in reducing noise from these sources. Economic activity and revenue generation seems to take priority over addressing noise emissions.

By plucking away what could be excluded from the remit of EU Directive 2002/49/EC we are left with one single source of noise generation – road traffic. It is clear that heavier commercial vehicles, those which are diesel powered and older poorly maintained vehicles are the major noise emitters. Time will tell if any eventual action plans to mitigate traffic noise will disproportionately penalise passenger car owners over all other road vehicles, as has happened with air quality issues. Poor road surface quality generally found all over the island constitute a major cause of shaking and rattling bits off the vehicles that use them. Any draconian measures directed at passenger cars, a minority cause of total noise-related ill health, cannot but inflame the never-ending gripe over poor roads and high car taxation; the cause of the aged road vehicle fleet on the island.