Noise Pollution

Noise Pollution V.S.S.Nair

Pollution…

..is the introduction by man into

the environment of contaminants that

Contains harmful substances

Noise pollution …

..is displeasing human or machine created

sound that disrupts the activity or happiness of human or animal life

A common form of noise pollution is from

Transportation, principally motor vehicles

NOISE

The word noise comes from the Latin word

Nausea meaning “ seasickness “

Or from a derivative of Latin word noxia or noceo = “ I do harm “ referring originally

To nuisance noise

Causes and effects of Noise Pollution

No one on earth can escape the sounds of noise – an unwanted, disturbing sound that causes nuisance.

Noise is a disturbance to the human

Environment that is escalating at such a high rate that it will become a major threat to the quality of human lives.

Sources …

Airplanes at take off and landing

Vehicles

Trains

Machineries

Effects on human environments

There are numerous effects due to the

increase in noise pollution

Understanding noise levels.. Noise is measured as a sound level , in dB = 1/10 of a bel Named after Alexander Graham Bell

dB

Threshold of hearing is 0 dB

Sound of rocket launching is 180 dB

Human ear tolerates up to 120 dB

dB

dB scale is logarithmic rather than linear

Sound intensity that increases by 3 dB is perceived as twice as loud

An increase of 10 dB is 10 times as loud

Add another 10 dB the sound will be perceived as 100 times loud

Inhospitable Hospitals

In NICU a baby’s cry is music to its mother

But most sounds in hospitals are not welcome and can be a source of annoyance to patients

And annoying the staff to – differently

e.g . Alarm sounds in patient rooms and ICUs

Continuous false alarms render staff impervious to the sound of alarms!

Noise in hospitals

Hospitals are people dense generating tremendous amount of speech noise

Rubbish bins ,chair scraping, supply carts, loading oxygen cylinders

Paging

A new study - hospitals

Strong relationship between number of loud sounds – >80 dB – and sleep arousals in elderly

Beeps f more than 80 dB kept patients awake a huge percentage of time awake

How disrupted sleep affects patients?

Noise affects staff

Noise is an environmental stressor – no one likes noise intruding into their personal or work

As in hospitals ,noise is pervasive…so we get accustomed to it

Thereby try to get over it by raising our voices!

ISSUES AND REGULATIONS ON NOISE POLLUTION IN INDIA

SOURCES OF NOISE

Outdoor sources

Traffic (road, rail and air)

Generator sets

Industries

Fire-crackers

Loudspeakers and Public Address Systems

Construction Activities

Vehicle horns

Indoor sources

Air coolers

Air conditioners

Television, music systems

Other office & home appliances etc.

ISSUES

TRAFFIC NOISE

Road Traffic :

Major concern in our country.

Increasing vehicle population

Planners lack of concern at the time of planning for residential areas and other use zones vis-à-vis roads

Lack of driving discipline

Indiscriminate use of horns.

Air Traffic :

Air traffic is increasing at the rate of about 25% in our country and is expected to cause major concern of noise pollution in coming years.

Rail Traffic:

Is of concern where trains passes by residential and other sensitive areas.

ISSUES

GENERATOR SETS

D ue to irregular power supply and increasing demand of power, engine based generator sets, using fuel such as petrol/kerosene, diesel, gas, furnace oil etc, have proliferated in our country causing serious noise pollution. maximum no. of complaints have been due to noise from generator sets.

INDUSTRIES

Problem is faced mainly in mixed zones or where other use zones are very near to the industrial zone. in addition, noise is of concern within the industries also.

ISSUES

LOUD SPEAKERS / PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS

Use of loud speakers / public address systems in functions, meetings, religious places in open areas is a source of serious nuisance.

FIRECRACKERS

Use of firecrackers with high noise level may harm the human hearing system. specially sensitive are small children.

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

Noise from construction of roads, buildings etc. near residential and silence zones needs to be controlled by effective starategies.

ISSUES

INDOOR SOURCES

Noise from indoor sources such as Air Cooler / Conditioner, TV, Mixie etc are also of concern

AMBIENT NOISE LEVELS DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC ALONG MAJOR ROADS IN DELHI 69.1 69.0 63.2 64.4 62.7 62.2 66.9 67.1 L eq dB(A) Mathura Road Ring Road NH-24 Wazirabad Road Major Roads Night Day 21.9.05 22.9.05 CSIR, Apartment, Ashram Chowk 4. Night Day 19.9.05 20.9.05 F- Block, Narauji Nagar 3. Night Day 7.9.05 8.8.05 Tarang Apartment, I.P. Extension 2. 55 dB(A) for day time & 45 dB(A) for night time Night Day 5.9.05 6.9.05 Bhagirathi W.T.P., Gokulpuri 1. Ambient Standard (Residential) L eq TIME DATE MONITORING SITE SL.NO.

AMBIENT NOISE LEVELS DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC ALONG MAJOR ROADS IN DELHI 63.2 69.7 63.0 67.1 69.4 70.1 68.3 66.2 L eq dB(A) Mandir Marg Outer Ring Road Ring Road NH-8 Major Roads Night Day 16.11.05 17.11.05 NDMC Flats Mandir Marg 8. Night Day 5.10.05 6.10.05 Sunder Apartment, Pashchim Vihar 7. Night Day 28.9.05 29.9.05 PWD Office, Shalimar Bagh 6. 55 dB(A) for day time & 45 dB(A) for night time Night Day 26.9.05 27.9.05 Shankar Vihar 5. Ambient Standard (Residential) L eq TIME DATE MONITORING SITE SL.NO.

AMBIENT NOISE LEVEL DUE TO AIR TRAFFIC AROUND IGI AIRPORT 55 dB(A) for day time & 45 dB(A) for night time Ambient Standard L eq 56.01 Day 06.05.04 56.5 Night Shankar Vihar 05.05.04 6. 61.27 Day 22.04.04 59.32 Night JNU 21.04.04 5. 63.02 Day 19.04.04 60.88 Night Sec-19, Dwarka 18.04.04 4. 59.3 Day 16.04.04 58.83 Night IIT, New Delhi 15.04.04 3. 62.38 Day 13.04.04 60.27 Night JNU 12.04.04 2. 63.04 Day 09.04.04 62.51 Night Shankar Vihar 08.04.04 1. L eq dB(A) TIME SITE DATE SL. NO.

LEGISLATIONS ON NOISE CONTROL IN INDIA

1. Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986

2. Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

3. Factories Act, 1948

4. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

5. Indian Penal Code – Sections 268, 290 & 291

6. Criminal Procedure Code – Section 133

7. Law of Torts

8. Local Acts/Rules regulating loud speakers etc.

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT, 1986.

STANDARDS NOTIFIED UNDER EPA, 1986

1. Ambient Noise Standards - 1989

2. Noise Limits for Domestic Appliances/Construction Equipment - 1990

3. Noise Limits for Motor Vehicles – 1990

4. Noise Limits for Diesel Generator Sets - 1999

Noise Limits for Fire-crackers - 1999

Noise Limits for Petrol/Kerosene Generator Sets - 2000

Noise Limits for Motor Vehicles (revision) - 2000

Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules – 2000

Noise Limits for Diesel Generator Sets (revision) – 2002.

NOISE POLLUTION (REGULATION & CONTROL) RULES, 2000 (Notified under EPA, 1986)

2 (c) ‘ Authority’ - includes District Magistrate, Police Commissioner, or any other officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police

3 Ambient Noise Standards, prescribed in schedule.

5. Public address system

i) Written permission required from authority

ii) Not to be used between 10:00 pm – 6:00 am

iii) Use permitted between 10.00 pm to 12.00 midnight for 15 days during cultural or religious festivals in a calendar year

7. Public complaint

i) If noise level exceeds the ambient noise standards by 10 dB(A), complaint to the authority

ii) Authority to take action

8. Power to prohibit – by Prescribed authority

AIR (PREVENTION & CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT, 1981

Noise was included in the definition of air pollutant in the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act by an amendment in 1987. Ambient noise standards have been notified under Air Act, in 1990.

This Act covers noise from industries/trade.

Implementing agency - SPCBs

INDIAN PENAL CODE – SECTIONS 268, 290 & 291

Noise pollution can be dealt under sections 268, 290 & 291 of the Indian Penal Code, as a public nuisance.

Section 268 of this Code, specifies that “ A person is guilty of a public nuisance, who does any act, or is guilty of an illegal omission which causes any common injury, danger, or annoyance to the public or the people in general who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity or which must necessarily cause injury, obstruction, danger or annoyance to persons who may have occasion to use any public right”.

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE – SECTION 133

Under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Magistrate has the power to make conditional order requiring the person causing nuisance to remove such nuisance.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988.

Sections 119 and 120 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, deals with reduction of noise from motor vehicle.

Section 119 states that ‘ every motor vehicles shall be

fitted with an electric horn or other device approved by BIS ’.

Section 120 requires that every motor vehicle shall be fitted

with a device (silencer) which reduces the noise that would otherwise made by escape of exhaust gases from the engine.

It also specifies that every motor vehicle shall be so constructed and maintained as to conform to the noise standards for motor vehicles.

FACTORIES ACT, 1948

The Factories Act does not contain any specific provision for noise pollution control. However, in third Schedule under Section s 89 and 90 of the Act, ‘ noise induced hearing loss ’ is mentioned as a notifiable disease.

Under Section 89 of the Act, any medical practitioner who detects any notifiable disease, including noise induced hearing loss, in a worker, has to report the case to the Chief Inspector of Factories, along with all other relevant information. Failure to do so is a punishable offence.

Noise limits for work zone area have been prescribed in Model Rules framed under the Factories Act, 1948.

LAW OF TORTS

Under the law of torts, a civil suit can be filed claiming damages for the nuisance. Nuisance as a tort means an unlawful interference with the person’s use or enjoyment of land or some right over, or in connection with it.

AMBIENT NOISE STANDARDS (Noise Rules, 2000 and its amendments)

Note :-

1. Day time shall mean from 6.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m .

2. Night time shall mean from 10.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m.

3. Silence zone is an area comprising not less than 100 meters around hospitals, educational institutions and courts, religious places or any other area which is declared as such by the competent authority.

4. Mixed categories of areas may be declared as one of the four above mentioned categories by the competent authority.

40 50 Silence Zone 45 55 Residential area 55 65 Commercial area 70 75 Industrial area Night time Day time Limits in dB(A) Leq Category of Area / Zone

NOISE LIMITS FOR GENERATOR SETS RUN WITH DIESEL GSR 371(E), dated May 17, 2002 (and its amendments)

New Generator Sets (effective from Jan 01, 2005)

The maximum permissible sound pressure level for NEW diesel

generator sets (upto 1000 KVA) manufactured on or after 1.1.2005 shall be 75 dB(A) at 1 metre from the enclosure surface.

Diesel generator sets (upto 1000 kVA) shall be manufactured and sold only with integral acoustic enclosures .

This standard is applicable at the manufacturing stage.

NOISE LIMITS FOR GENERATOR SETS RUN WITH DIESEL GSR 371(E), dated May 17, 2002 (and its amendments)

Existing Generator Sets (all capacities) and New Generator Sets

>1000 KVA

Noise from EXISTING DG Sets (all capacities manufactured before 1.1.2005) and also new Diesel Generator Sets above 1000 KVA, noise shall be controlled by providing acoustic enclosures or by treating the rooms acoustically, at the users’ end .

The acoustic enclosure or the room treatment shall be designed for minimum 25 dBA insertion loss or for meeting the ambient noise standard whichever is on the higher side.

These shall be regulated by the SPSBs/SPCCs at the user’s end.

NOISE LIMITS FOR NEW PETROL/KEROSENE GENERATOR SETS [ GSR 742(E), September 25, 2000 and its amendments ] 86 dB (A) 90 dB(A) Sound Power Level, L WA September 1, 2003 September 1, 2002 Noise Limits from

This standard is applicable at the manufacturing stage.

NOISE LIMITS FOR FIRE-CRACKERS GSR 682(E), October 5, 1999.

THE MANUFACTURE, SALE OR USE OF FIRE-CRACKERS GENERATING NOISE LEVEL EXCEEDING 125 dB(AI) OR 145 dB(C) PK AT 4 METERS DISTANCE FROM THE POINT OF BURSTING, SHALL BE PROHIBITED.

FOR INDIVIDUAL FIRE-CRACKER CONSTITUTING THE SERIES (JOINED FIRE-CRACKERS) THE ABOVE MENTIONED LIMIT BE REDUCED BY 5 LOG 10 (N) dB, WHERE N = NUMBER OF CRACKERS JOINED TOGETHER.

These shall be applicable at the manufacturing stage .

Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (formerly Dept. of Explosives) is the implementing agency.

NOISE STANDARDS IN WORK ZONE AREA

PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE PER DAY IN CASES OF CONTINUOUS NOISE

___________________________________________________________________

Duration of Exposure, (Hrs) Permissible Level of Exposure, [dB(A)]

8 90

6 92

4 95

3 97

2 100

1 ½ 102

1 105

¾ 107

½ 110

¼ 115

___________________________________________________________________

NOISE STANDARDS IN WORK ZONE AREA

PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE FOR IMPULSIVE OR IMPACT NOISE

____________________________________________________________ PEAK SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL IN dB PERMITTED NUMBER OF IMPULSES OR IMPACTS PER DAY

_____________________________________________________________________________

140 100

135 315

130 1,000

125 3,160

120 10,000

_____________________________________________________________________________

NOISE LIMITS FOR VEHICLES AT MANUFACTURING STAGE 80 WITH AN ENGINE POWER OF 150 KW OR ABOVE 4.2 78 WITH AN ENGINE POWER LESS THAN 150 KW 4.1 VEHICLES USED FOR THE CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS HAVING MORE THAN NINE SEATS, INCLUDING THE DRIVER’S SEAT, AND A MAXIMUM GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT (GVW) OF MORE THAN 3.5 TONNES 4.0 74 VEHICLES USED FOR THE CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS AND CAPABLE OF HAVING NOT MORE THAN NINE SEATS, AND A MAXIMUM GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT (GVW) OF MORE THAN 3.5 TONNES 3.0 80 DISPLACEMENT MORE THAN 175 CC 2.2 77 DISPLACEMENT UPTO 175 CC 2.1 THREE WHEELERS 2.0 80 DISPLACEMENT MORE THAN 175 CC 1.3 77 DISPLACEMENT MORE THAN 80 CC BUT UPTO 175 CC 1.2 75 DISPLACEMENT UPTO 80 CC 1.1 TWO WHEELERS 1.0 NOISE LIMITS dB(A) TYPE OF VEHICLES SL.NO.

NOISE LIMITS FOR VEHICLES AT MANUFACTURING STAGE

80 WITH AN ENGINE POWER OF 150 KW OR ABOVE 6.3 78 WITH AN ENGINE POWER OF 75 KW OR ABOVE BUT LESS THAN 150 KW 6.2 77 WITH AN ENGINE POWER LESS THAN 75 KW 6.1 VEHICLES USED FOR THE TRANSPORT OF GOODS WITH A MAXIMUM GVW EXCEEDING 3.5 TONNES 6.0 76 WITH A MAXIMUM GVW EXCEEDING 3.5 TONNES 5.1 VEHICLES USED FOR THE CARRIAGE OF PASENGERS HAVING MORE THAN NINE SEATS, INCLUDING THE DRIVER’S SEAT: VEHICLES USED FOR THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS 5.0 NOISE LIMITS dB(A) TYPE OF VEHICLES SL. NO.

IMPORTANT DECISIONS OF HON’BLE COURTS RELATED TO NOISE POLLUTION

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA :

[ (CWP No. 72 of 1998) final judgment delivered on July 21, 2005 ].

States shall make provisions for seizure and confiscation of loud speakers, amplifiers and such other equipments as are found to be creating noise beyond the permissible limits.

IMPORTANT DECISIONS OF HON’BLE COURTS RELATED TO NOISE POLLUTION

Firecrackers

Chemical composition of firecrackers shall be the basis for evaluating effective noise control.

Dept. of Explosives shall undertake necessary activity for the purpose and shall come out with chemical formulae for each category or class of firecrackers.

Dept of Explosives shall specify proportion/composition as well as maxm. permissible weight of every chemical used in manufacturing,

Each manufacturer shall mention details of chemical composition on the box of each firecracker as laid down by DoE.

There shall be complete ban on bursting sound emitting firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am.

Major decisions of Hon’ble Courts in matter related to Noise Pollution

Loudspeakers:

Noise level at boundary of public place where loudspeaker or public address system or any noise source being used shall not exceed 10 dB(A) above the ambient noise standard for the area or 75 dB(A), whichever is lower.

The peripheral noise level of privately owned sound system shall not exceed by more than 5 dB(A) than the ambient noise standard specified for the area in which it is used, at the boundary of the private place.

Vehicle Noise:

No horn should be allowed to be used at night (between 10 pm and 6 am) in residential areas except in exceptional circumstances.

Supreme Court:

The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Church of God in India Vs KKR Majestic Colony Welfare Association , held that the Court may issue directions in respect of controlling noise pollution even if such was a direct result of and was connected with religious activities.

The Court further held that “ No religion prescribes that prayers should be performed by disturbing the peace of others nor does it preach that they should be through voice amplifiers or beating of drums ”.

In a civilized society activities which disturb the old or infirm persons, students or children having their sleep in early hours or during daytime or other persons carrying on activities cannot be permitted.

Madras High Court: (Appa Rao,M.S Vs Govt. of T.N, 1995)

The Madras High Court taking a note of the serious health hazard and disturbance to public order and tranquility caused by uncontrolled noise pollution prevailing in the state, issued a writ mandamus directing the State Govt. to impose strict conditions for issue of licence for use of amplifiers and loudspeakers and for diercting the DG, Police (Law & Order) to impose total ban on use of horn type loudspeakers and amplifiers and air horns on automobiles.

FUTURE FOCUS AREAS