Environmental monitoring systems ‘significantly upgraded’

Malta's environmental monitoring systems have received a  'significant upgrade' in line with Malta's objective to conform with European Union directives dealing with proper environmental monitoring.

The announcement was made by MEPA chairman Austin Walker and Environment Minister Mario de Marco. The new expanded monitoring systems provide improved availability and reliability of information on the state of Malta's environment across several areas: noise, soil, air, water, and radiation.

The monitoring system will also enable baseline studies, which are studies that establish a foundational analysis of Malta's environmental situation upon which future studies can be based.

Explaining the project, project leader Saviour Formosa said that it will facilitate the development of more informed and better-targeted policy measures in all areas of public policy, ranging from health, fiscal, economic, social and environmental areas.

The improvement to the monitoring systems represent a project co-funded by the EU, which is in its final months and should be terminated by July "unless there are extensions," Formosa said.

Formosa also said that the project saw the investment of €4.9 million which went towards environmental monitoring equipment, information management systems, delivery of environmental baseline surveys, training of staff, and the development and enhancement of the national monitoring programmes for air, water, radiation, noise and soil.

The investment of 4.9 million were spread out over ten tenders in total, three related to studies commissioned, four related to services and/or products (including equipment), one related to the dissemination of information, one related to project management, and one related to noise maps (which was not funded by the EU).

The systems that were set in place by this improvement allow, among things, detailed 3D high-resolution maps of Maltese landscapes (including urban areas), as well as the bottom of Malta's coastline, to a range of one nautical mile away from the coastline.

These surveys will enable the creation of new nautical charts as well as facilitate land use and marine spatial planning.

Formosa said that all the information gathered by the monitoring system will be made available freely online to aid in the policy-making process, as from July onwards.

Additionally, a new run of orthophotos and high resolution oblique aerial imagery will allow for side analysis of development and environmental monitoring, which will also be employed in parallel with satellite imagery provided by the project.

The project also includes the acquisition of a mobile air monitoring station, which will help to address any data gaps resulting from the shutdown of any of the five fixed stations that are used to generate and report data to the EU.

Additionally this station, which Formosa said was delivered to Mepa at the end of last year, will make it more possible for Malta to achieve the data quality objectives required by the Ambient Air Quality Directive.

Moreover, an air quality baseline survey was carried out, consisting of a one year continuous daily sampling of PM₁₀ at Gharb, Kordin, Msida and Zejtun and the chemical speciation for metals, ions and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

A soil baseline survey is currently being carried out, whereby 40 sites across the Maltese Islands are being examined. The locations were established following the preparation of a pre-agreed multi-criteria model derived from existing information.

Welcoming the project, Environment Minister Mario de Marco emphasized the link between the state of our environment and people's health and quality of life, and that environmental action "is a science which first determines causes before one can take action."

The deliverables of this project, said the Minister, would not only be of benefit to policy makers and the scientific community, but also to the business community, since the increased availability of quality environmental data will reduce the costs of environmental impact assessment processes, hence the cost (and time) of decision making on major development proposals.

"But ultimately, it is the people, the public at large, who will benefit since the increased availability of quality up-to-date environmental information will enable the people to become more aware of the environmental trends affecting their health and quality of life, and the relation between these trends and human activities", the Minister added.

MEPA Chairman, Mr Austin Walker welcomed the project by saying that the project "has enabled us to make big strides in improving our environmental monitoring capacity. Once the project is completed later this year, government entities and institutions can start to sustain long term effective and cost efficient environmental monitoring programmes. Together with this, Malta will be fully complying, and excel beyond compliance with the monitoring obligations stemming from the EU environmental Acquis."

Walker concluded that "this will enable us, as a nation, to be more aware of the environmental trends affecting our health and quality of life."

The Authority, through this project, also inaugurated a new laboratory which will be used to carry out tasks required by the Air Quality Directive.

These include inter-comparison exercises for particulate matter, improvement in data quality and data capture through dedicated instruments for calibrations and quality assurance and carry out investigations into source contribution and dispersion of pollution.