MEPA denies claims of 'incorrect siting' for air monitoring stations

In a statement, MEPA claimed that the four air monitoring stations which determined the concentration levels of most air pollutants every 15 minutes for the Maltese Islands were located “in accordance and as regulated by the EU Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe”.

MEPA said it also based its siting of the four air monitoring stations, three in Malta and another one in Gozo, upon the recommendations made in a report prepared by Consultants Stacey and Bush, who in 2002, were appointed by the Maltese Government to carry out a preliminary assessment of Air quality in Malta.

Together with these recommendations, the Authority was guided by the macroscale siting criteria which is found in Annex III (B) of the Ambient Air Quality Directive, which amongst other things stated that “sampling points shall in general be sited in such a way as to avoid measuring very small micro-environments (like street canyons).

“A sampling point must be sited in such a way that the air sample is representative of air quality for a street segment no less than 100m length at traffic orientated sites,” the criteria established.

“For these reasons and logistical purposes, MEPA adopted to site the traffic station in Msida, the urban background station in Zejtun, the station influenced by the plume of the Marsa Power Station at the Corradino Industrial Estate and the background site in the Maltazone in Gharb, Gozo,” the Authority claimed in its statement.

The Authority claimed that it was “in the national interest” that Malta had reported to the Commission the outcome of scientific studies which clearly showed that 22 out of the 52 exceedances registered by the Msida station in 2008, were attributable to natural causes.

“The Authority was not trying to make any kind of excuses or ‘taking the easy way out’ but needed to notify the Commission that certain exceedances were the cause of natural and transboundary sources for which Malta has no control,” MEPA insisted. The Authority explained how the methodology applied for deducting these natural and trasboundary sources, was “as suggested and regulated by the European Commission”.

MEPA insisted that it was “still committed” to implement the Air Quality Plan for the Maltese Islands which outlined policy measures to address man-made pollution sources, namely in the sectors of transport, power generation, construction and small industry”

The Authority had this year also secured over €4.9 million to finance a project that would “radically improve” the national environmental monitoring capacity in five environmental themes – air, water, radiation, noise, and soil.

Also last month, MEPA also launched a new environmental permitting system for all the quarries in Maltaand Gozo to increase the standards of environment compliance within the industry that will include addressing the problems of high dust levels that these plants generated.