State of the Environment Bulgaria 2003
Transport noise
Motor vehicles are viewed as the most important source of noise for the population in the big cities and it is increasing.
The control of noise pollution from motor vehicles within the settlements is performed by the national system for control, limitation and decreasing of the noise within the settlements. The system is managed administratively by the Ministry of Health and methodologically by the National Centre for Hygiene, Medical Ecology and Nutrition. In 2001 there were 558 monitoring stations for measuring the level of noise, situated in 24 of the big cities within the country. In most of the stations the measured levels exceeded the admissible hygienic norms from 55 – 60 dB (A), while 37% of them fall in the range of 68 – 72 dB (A) and another 27% - in the range of 63 – 67 dB (A). With such levels of noise, impact on the population’s health should be expected.
The tendency of implementing partial measures is continuing without having in place a Municipal Policy for improving the acoustic conditions of the settlements:
· There are no noise protective facilities constructed;
· The town plans are outdated and ineffective;
· The organization of traffic is ineffective – there is a lack of encircling routes.
· There are partial measures for maintaining the road network.
The use of old motor vehicles contributes to the problem. A very low percentage of city buses have newly replaced engines and have passed inspection in the last five years. The Executive Agency “Automobile Administration” performs a control on the condition of silencer devices. The tests of the noise levels of the engines themselves are not performed, because this is costly and there is a lack of the necessary specialized equipment.
Last update on March 2003