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Measures and actions against noise pollution
The effectiveness of the fight against noise pollution depends to a great extent on public participation. This participation depends on the clarity and amount of the information provided by the authorities involved.
Public training as a prior step to assimilable information
The traditionally-used procedures for assessing noise levels are especially complex for the
general public. As a result, special attention must be paid to ensure that the information is
attractive to members of the public to encourage their participation.
In this situation, the international experts' meeting proposed:
In this situation, the international experts' meeting proposed:
- Using the most suitable procedures in each case to assess the degree of training of the affected populations relating to noise pollution. The use of the Internet may be appropriate to reach a greater proportion of the public.
- Defining various information levels starting with intuitive information for which specific knowledge is not needed and ranging to complete information for specialists.
For the first level, it would be desirable to use comparative procedures with semantic,
chromatic or symbolic scales associated with numbers or numeric scales since the comparison between
situations is always more understandable.
- Introduce environmental noise education in schools and knowledge of the physics of acoustics in technical schools.
- The information must be designed by communications techniques specialists.
- Design interactive systems using games to provide knowledge of the phenomenon of noise pollution. In this sense, the construction of "sound houses" is recommended in which information, data and activities on the world of sound can be grouped to play teaching, awareness and training roles.
In other areas, it is necessary to organise information which, in accordance with the EU, must
be provided to the public and to set up the channels for public participation in the process of
defining and approving the action plans.
Conflicts between local legislation and the directive; solutions
Both the requirements in the directive and the specifications provided for its correct application still present serious difficulties.
Problems also exist for most countries attending the meeting in obtaining the necessary data without uniform guidelines being set for its obtaining. For example, population affected by different levels, insulation in houses affected by them, etc.
Equally, there were concepts which were not clearly defined, such as that of agglomeration. As a result, the international experts' meeting advised:
Conflicts between local legislation and the directive; solutions
Both the requirements in the directive and the specifications provided for its correct application still present serious difficulties.
Problems also exist for most countries attending the meeting in obtaining the necessary data without uniform guidelines being set for its obtaining. For example, population affected by different levels, insulation in houses affected by them, etc.
Equally, there were concepts which were not clearly defined, such as that of agglomeration. As a result, the international experts' meeting advised:
- That each country provides the commission with the procedures it intends to apply according to its databases and information sources. Equally, it must provide the definition of the unclear concepts which, once defined, must be made uniform for the country's government departments.
- Given the cultural and climatic diversity of countries in the EU, the indicators set in the directives, despite the possibility of reducing the afternoon period to benefit some of the other two periods set, do not always match the noise reality of the cities. As a result, it will be necessary to apply complementary criteria, adjusted to the acoustic reality of the city, especially when preparing and prioritising action plans.
The scarcity of specialised technicians capable of preparing maps and action plans within the
period set by the commission was also made clear.
Finally, there was great concern over the costs arising from complying with and applying the directive so that the commission was requested to establish the possibility of creating specific funds for it.
Application and discussion of the resolution for applying models.
The resolution on the procedures for using the models set in the directive clarifies in some ways the doubts concerning the application according to the directive but retains serious doubts on very important aspects when putting it into practice and leaves undefined aspects that affect the undertaking of the work.
Finally, there was great concern over the costs arising from complying with and applying the directive so that the commission was requested to establish the possibility of creating specific funds for it.
Application and discussion of the resolution for applying models.
The resolution on the procedures for using the models set in the directive clarifies in some ways the doubts concerning the application according to the directive but retains serious doubts on very important aspects when putting it into practice and leaves undefined aspects that affect the undertaking of the work.
- Firstly, many countries lack the necessary database for applying the model for predicting noise generated by railways. In the case of Spain, its infrastructures and units are very different to those of the rest of the countries since it has a different track gauge. As a result, it will be difficult to apply the set model immediately. It will be necessary to carry out prior studies to determine the parameters required by the model.
- In the case of forecasting aircraft noise, the procedure for adjusting the data provided by the model for making them comparable with the rest of the noise maps to be made at a height of 4 m was not set.
Neither were procedures set for use when determining the effects of aircraft when moving on
the ground other than takeoff and landing operations (taxying from aprons to the runway thresholds,
testing engines, etc). Also unspecified was whether the effects of the rest of the airport activity
must be assessed separately from these operations when the periphery areas of airports are as
important as overflights.
- The precision and scale to be used for noise maps was not specified. If the purpose of the directive is to be able to make comparisons between different maps, equal conditions must be established for all aspects of the map and not just the procedures to be used. But uniform conditions must be set taking care to choose them so that all countries are able to obtain them.
Related files
Get to know Municipal Ordinance on Environmental Protection(PDF, 561 Kbytes)
Study of environmental noise levels in the Central District of Madrid(PDF, 2 Mbytes)
