The St Luċija local council has called for an investigation into the high levels of soot seen in the locality for the past few weeks.

Many residents have filed complaints with the council who called on the government to tackle the problem.

In a statement, the council said it was concerned because the black dust had been found in various roads for a number of weeks.

It called on the authorities to address this problem, which was causing an inconvenience in several localities, and pointed out the irony of having campaigns on the importance of a clean environment, clean roads and unpolluted air.

Many people, especially those living in the south, had been complaining about this problem in the past days, the council said.

Earlier this week, Enemalta said the black dust was not caused by the Marsa power station and tests by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to determine where it was coming from were still underway.

The corporation said that its emissions had remained consistent over the past six months and were well within the stipulated limits. It also insisted that it monitored dust emissions regularly.

In the meantime, the planning authority will be comparing dust collected from roofs with samples taken from the power station's chimneys. Asked whether the dust had pushed emissions beyond EU-accepted levels, an authority spokesman said this was not the case. "It is more of an inconvenience than a health risk," he said.