In her piece ‘Symbols on the report card’, your columnist Anne Zammit (February 5) argues that readings being taken from the air quality monitoring station in Msida may not be truly reflective of PM levels (particulate matter smaller than 10 microns) in built-up and traffic dense areas such as in Hamrun.
Air quality is of concern in certain areas, particularly due to traffic- Peter Gingell, Mepa Communications Office, Floriana
She also says that a monitoring station in Floriana, which recorded high levels of pollution up to several years ago, seems to have disappeared off the radar.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority would like to clarify these points.
According to the ‘Preliminary assessment on Air Quality’ carried out by renowned air quality experts AEA Technology plc (Stacey & Bush, 2002), it was recommended that a ‘traffic air monitoring station’ is sited in a roadside location between Valletta and Msida given that it is undoubtedly a traffic node area.
According to the European Commission’s Air Quality Directive, for a site to be selected it has to satisfy a number of criteria, most importantly that the air monitoring station can sample both the macro and micro environment.
The directive advises against the location of such traffic-oriented monitoring stations in micro-environments like ‘street canyons’ such as St Anne Street, and most, if not all, streets in Hamrun.
The Floriana monitoring station, which some years ago was stationed at the premises of Mepa, was relocated as it was not honouring a number of siting criteria.
Additionally, when the air monitoring station was still in Floriana, Malta had not yet introduced the practice which stems from the Air Quality Directive, that PM measurements for Sahara dust intrusions and for sea aerosol are deducted as is now the case at the Msida station, and this influences the final results for the two stations.
While Malta’s national air quality meets EU standards, the available data also indicate that air quality is of concern in certain areas, particularly due to vehicular traffic. The authority, through the implementation of the national Air Quality Plan, will continue to encourage and support initiatives that seek to improve air quality.