Is pollution gonna get worse or better? What's your insight on it?

Can't really calm you down as it is worse than you think.

Car pollution, noise pollution, dust/sand pollution are probably the highest in Europe. Let's not talk about the pollution of the ground water with lead ( from hunting ) and fertilizers.

For a health orientated person Malta is definitly the wrong place. Also watch out when you are walking as you might break your ankle or a leg on the rough pavements.

Try not to cross the roads on pedestrian crossings ......very unhealthy!

Keep clear of the countryside during the hunting season  - very dangerous !

But you will get used to Malta after a few years -))) If you survive !

Cheers
Ricky

Meh, your sarcasm doesn't help much, you know?

It's fine if you don't mind suffering for years from various diseases, but I mind that. I'd much rather get hit by a car and die than suffer for years.

Intresting you mention disease I have suffered less since being here than I did in the UK , I have a low immune system so usually suffer flu and other various infections especially in winter and apart from a touch of heat rash  I haven't needed the  dr much at all .... Touchwood it continues lol

Even though that is good to hear, Rob it proves very little. I'm concerned about the long term effects of the high levels of benzene and ozone. In other words not a flue the next five years, but cancer and lung disorders in twenty years.

Is this not a hot topic in Malta? Shouldn't I expect improvements the coming years?

As I've understood it it was not like this ten years ago.

I found this which calmed me a lot:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ene.429424

This thread was based on this from 2009:



However, I don't know which to trust because in the first link it says average levels in 2008 were 2,3 ug and on the image it's clearly higher than that. Sure, that imagie is just showing March, so maybe that's it?

If the article is correct and the average is 1,6ug then that's really low? That's lower than were I live now. I

Wrongholebutherewego wrote:

Meh, your sarcasm doesn't help much, you know?
It's fine if you don't mind suffering for years from various diseases, but I mind that. I'd much rather get hit by a car and die than suffer for years.

Ricky was NOT being sarcastic actually there is a LOT of truth in what he writes.
Pollution on Malta is awful!!!
(I live on Gozo.)

redmik wrote:

Wrongholebutherewego wrote:

Meh, your sarcasm doesn't help much, you know?
It's fine if you don't mind suffering for years from various diseases, but I mind that. I'd much rather get hit by a car and die than suffer for years.

Ricky was NOT being sarcastic actually there is a LOT of truth in what he writes.
Pollution on Malta is awful!!!
(I live on Gozo.)

I was referring to not breaking my ancle while walking.

Could you elaborate?

I've been googling a lot now and all I find is reports from 2010-2011, but in those benzene and ozone levels seem to be ok.

If you see the state of the so called 'pavements', steps, pathways in some areas of Malta you would see there is a very real risk of damaging an ankle or worse. As for those with mobility issues, goodness help them. Some areas OK but a lot of others are not - very much not.

redmik wrote:

If you see the state of the so called 'pavements', steps, pathways in some areas of Malta you would see there is a very real risk of damaging an ankle or worse. As for those with mobility issues, goodness help them. Some areas OK but a lot of others are not - very much not.

i have tripped a few times some of the pavements can be very slippy too ...
i have my walking stick that helps but your right some places are terrible to walk especially when its raining

Not just the rain either, they are very narrow, sloping, holes everywhere, rubble, obstructions, crumbling; not to mention the dog shit! Not ignoring the threats from overhead (builders) either!

See this article: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ent.545941

Particularly the photograph.

redmik wrote:

Particularly the photograph.

Wow!! Shocking. 

robpw2 wrote:

i have tripped a few times some of the pavements can be very slippy too ...
i have my walking stick that helps but your right some places are terrible to walk especially when its raining

I've almost ended up on my arse a few times, and it doesn't have to be raining either. Probably because Malta is quite a dusty place and add the humidity on top of that, if there's any dew on the pavements early in the morning, it's like walking on sheet ice, even with good chunky shoes on. The dangerous thing is, you don't expect it, on a cold frosty morning in January in Scotland, you know to be careful. On a nice morning in late September down here, a lot less so.

Maybe that's another reason for the high number of traffic accidents down here. Moist, dusty, slippy roads, old cars with bugger all thread left on the tires. That might explain the vast number of cars that end up in hedges and ditches and hitting lamp-posts. It's like driving on a skating rink.

not to mention the high humidity combined with inadequate inappropriate  winter heating and ventilation in properties creating damp and black mould in homes . and with mould comes spores not good for anyone with bronchial issues

I would think that it must have got better in the last few years, we now have a fleet of new buses, compared to the old 1950s ones Malta used to have. And the average age of cars on the road is gradually getting younger, but compared to the rest of the EU, it is still way behind.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ert.559641

It's lack of enforcement of emissions rules which is the main problem though, I see cars and lorries every day belching black smoke out of their exhaust. Given the very high percentage of car ownership here and the size of the island, pollution is always going to be an issue.

I found out recently that there is a number which you can text if you see a suspect car, but the number of cars which get caught seems to be minimal, so I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. The statistics aren't great.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ars.492354

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ear.511270

12,529 reports received in a year, that's almost 35 SMS messages sent every day on average. That should give you a rough idea of the scale of the problem here in Malta.

cars get VRT every 2 years = to be shortened if not already to 1 year.. but that is just as corrupt  - a bottle of the mechanics fave tipple gets you through,.... even if you have dodgy emissions...

Well to get back to the original post about pollution in Malta , in particular aIr pollution , and health implications you have to take into consideration that Malta is a very small island quite near Africa ( Sahara desert) with a lot of water surrounding it and any amount of fresh air blowing.

The emissions from traffic and power stations are obvious but don't seem to affect long term health ( in particular cancer) that much as the statistics don't show any real deviation for cancer incidences compared to other European countries .

What is very obvious and well known is the fact that Malta has just about the highest incidence for asthma worldwide. If you check your terrace every morning and clean your glass top table it is quite evident.that massive amounts of sand/particles are in the air all the time. At least the deposits have changed their colour from sooty black to a reddish brown since the old yellow bus fleet stopped operating a few years ago.

For me personally the ground water ( wells) pollution is the worst threat! The Maltese water with which the local vegetables are watered has the highest nitrate content in Europe. In fact, especially in Gozo, you can even smell it in the countryside! Illegal dumping ( even cars ) is evident everywhere in the countryside and the involved substances finmd their way into the food chain. If you take a close look at where the reservoir water used for agricultural purposes comes from you might think twice about consuming local vegetables.

So, bottom line, if a healthy environment is part of your consideration to relocate to Malta look carefully at the reallity here. Malta is decades away from European standards.

Cheers
Ricky

ricky wrote:

Well to get back to the original post about pollution in Malta , in particular aIr pollution , and health implications you have to take into consideration that Malta is a very small island quite near Africa ( Sahara desert) with a lot of water surrounding it and any amount of fresh air blowing.

The emissions from traffic and power stations are obvious but don't seem to affect long term health ( in particular cancer) that much as the statistics don't show any real deviation for cancer incidences compared to other European countries .

What is very obvious and well known is the fact that Malta has just about the highest incidence for asthma worldwide. If you check your terrace every morning and clean your glass top table it is quite evident.that massive amounts of sand/particles are in the air all the time. At least the deposits have changed their colour from sooty black to a reddish brown since the old yellow bus fleet stopped operating a few years ago.

For me personally the ground water ( wells) pollution is the worst threat! The Maltese water with which the local vegetables are watered has the highest nitrate content in Europe. In fact, especially in Gozo, you can even smell it in the countryside! Illegal dumping ( even cars ) is evident everywhere in the countryside and the involved substances finmd their way into the food chain. If you take a close look at where the reservoir water used for agricultural purposes comes from you might think twice about consuming local vegetables.

So, bottom line, if a healthy environment is part of your consideration to relocate to Malta look carefully at the reallity here. Malta is decades away from European standards.

Cheers
Ricky

Thanks for a great post, Ricky. Well I am feeling a bit anxious about this, but I can't jump ship now.

Regarding the vegetables. Doesn't it help to rinse them in water (bottle water)? Are imported vegetables available as well? I did know about the water pollution and was planning on buying bottle water rather than drinking from the tap.

http://www.wcrf.org/int/cancer-facts-fi … cy-country

As you can see Malta's rate of cancer incidence is considerably lower than other countries, and if you're a man the news is even better (placed 44th out of 50 countries).

I didn't expect Denmark to have such a high rate; maybe it's all that Lego they eat?

There are lots of things to consider including very low crime rates, lots of sunshine, excellent health service, which counteract some of the more negative points. When I was living in Gozo I never felt healthier and happier. Which is why I am moving back in August.

Pig Ear wrote:

http://www.wcrf.org/int/cancer-facts-figures/data-cancer-frequency-country

As you can see Malta's rate of cancer incidence is considerably lower than other countries, and if you're a man the news is even better (placed 44th out of 50 countries).

I didn't expect Denmark to have such a high rate; maybe it's all that Lego they eat?

There are lots of things to consider including very low crime rates, lots of sunshine, excellent health service, which counteract some of the more negative points. When I was living in Gozo I never felt healthier and happier. Which is why I am moving back in August.

Good numbers. I'm thinking though that if this pollution in Malta is a new thing (10-15 years) (car pollution and water pollution), then those numbers wouldn't be accurate as it takes time to develop cancer. Of course there are several factors to one's health and some of those you mentioned are big reasons to why I'm moiving in the first place.