PROGRESS REPORT 1998
ENVIRONMENTAL REGENERATION

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN EUROPEAN CITIES

Before creating an efficient and effective urban air quality strategy, a detailed analysis must be made of the atmospheric situation, and of all of the aspects that have an affect on this situation, not forgetting the resources available for its development.

"Air quality management" is considered as the ability to generate and use appropriate information about the quality of air on the basis of a coherent administrative and legislative structure.

The introduction of new automatic monitoring equipment, together with a comprehensive quality control and safe programmes in many cities, has resulted in a medium-high reading for Europe as a whole. A more detailed analysis leads to the conclusion that the cities with better measuring systems also carry out frequent and reliable controls on the said equipment.

The providing of information to the population on the resulting reading of these emissions is generally particularly lacking: even when these readings are carried out, they are not normally published in their entirety, nor are their results made available to the general public. Thus, only 22% of cities hand out information on local emissions, with enormous differences in the details they give and the way in which they are presented.

Response to methods for the short-term reduction of pollution, such as the restriction of traffic or industrial production, is less frequent in the affirmative sense than it is to longer-term strategies (such as, for example, the appraisal of the environmental impact of projects involving large infrastructures).

Metropolitan Bilbao is very well equipped to measure air quality: all of the necessary readings, which are strictly controlled and include tests for lead, are carried out on the atmospheric quality. This said, although the quality control of the data is perfectly correct, it is not carried out by an independent entity, which would give it greater objectivity.

The public is well informed about air quality in Metropolitan Bilbao, whether through the leading media, panels in the city centre or specific publications. Warnings are put out when the air quality is low, advising the population to change their transport habits and behaviour in general.

The ability to manage air quality would seem to be the weakest point of the system established in Metropolitan Bilbao, which can be compared to that of British cities like Glasgow, Leeds or even London.

Positive points are that the construction of infrastructure projects in the Bilbao metropolis is preceded by an environmental impact study; lead-free petrol is available; and additional controls are carried out on emission sources during moments of low air quality.

Metropolitan Bilbao, and the whole Basque Autonomous Community, has developed an air quality management system similar to that of the most advanced cities in Europe, thereby contributing to and reflecting on both the improvement in air quality and subsequent environmental regeneration which has been taking place in Metropolitan Bilbao for some years now.

Still pending is the repeal of the 1977 Decree that declared the area of Greater Bilbao to be contaminated. Several town councils in the metropolitan area have joined the petition to change this situation, as it no longer reflects reality, also stating that it has an extremely negative effect on the image of the metropolis with respect, for example, to the attraction of non-contaminating economic activities.
 

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*European funding for starting the recovery project on the riverbed of the Bilbao Estuary

The 1997 Progress Report underlined the need for a global approach to recovery of the Bilbao Estuary, in order that its complete cleansing include the elimination or treatment of polluted sediment, thereby succeeding in revaluating the banks of the river. This project would therefore contribute to promoting the installation of new economic activities and the development of town planning projects.

Thanks to the progress made during 1998, the Plan to Clean-up the Lower Nervión River succeeded, during 1999, in achieving the targets set for the period 1996-1999, which consisted of incorporating the Galindo water treatment plant to the flow of waste water produced by 80% of the metropolitan population.

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*Public-private collaboration in the regeneration of contaminated land

The restructuring process and abandon of certain industrial activities in the Basque Autonomous Community in general and Metropolitan Bilbao in particular, has meant that several companies, particularly from the iron and steel sector, have disappeared, leaving the sites on which they stood in very poor condition from the environmental point of view and, subsequently, dangerous for public health. No other activities can be carried out on these sites.

In October 1998, IHOBE presented the results of the Inventory on Sites with Potentially Pollutant Activities in the Basque Autonomous Community, by way of the first stage of the process of regeneration of these enclaves. A total of 1,310 plots spread over 19 municipalities were noted within the area of Metropolitan Bilbao, or 23% of the sites appearing on the inventory in the Basque Autonomous Community and 67% of those in Bizkaia.

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*The need to correctly manage inert waste

Progressive citizen awareness of the need to reduce the amount of solid waste generated by the city and selective collection is reflected in the continuous improvement of the relevant results offered by Bizkaia County Council. Having brought the "third container" into use in 1998 for the dropping-off of light packaging, the next challenge is the drawing up in 1999 of a Census on Waste in Bizkaia.

In keeping with the tendency of the more advanced European countries, consideration is now being given to the advisability of introducing an "eco-tax" which, by means of a levy on the purchase or use of potentially contaminant products, would contribute to funding environmental expenditure. Thus, for example, Germany has put a tax on certain disposable products, while Sweden has opted for aerosols.


*Perspectives of development of the eco-industry

Despite the fact that the industrial sector substantially contributes to generating all different kinds of pollution, and to the use of non-renewable resources, this sector also plays an important part in the offering of solutions to environmental problems, by developing new processes and technologies that cause less pollution through improving both the quality of the product and industrial productivity.

With respect to opening out to foreign countries, a recent report by the Basque Chambers of Commerce stated that 30% of the Basque "eco-companies" export to foreign markets, either in the shape of capital goods, projects or environmental technology. It is very probable that this figure will increase, thanks to the growing awareness of the business sector as regards the need to use "clean" technologies.

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*The need for specific legislation on noise pollution

An improvement in the quality of life requires peaceful atmospheres that favour rest; and in this sense more and more peaceful areas are being protected against the installation of noise-producing enterprises. If a few years ago, complaints about noise were limited to certain specific industrial activities, nowadays there are increasing complaints about roads, airports, the acoustic quality of buildings, etc.

All of this must take shape, under the Basque Autonomous Community's Environment Law, in specific legislation on noise, an essential element with respect to the establishment of homogenous criteria for measuring and calculating noise, and to the creation of medium and long-term noise control policies.


*Opinion of the environmental regeneration of Metropolitan Bilbao

The Opinion Poll carried out on the revitalisation process of the Bilbao metropolis shows that, in comparison with other metropolises, Bilbao is seen as being just as healthy, although not as clean, noisier and more polluted. The comparative indicators therefore highlight the fact that this is still one of the weaknesses of Metropolitan Bilbao in the eyes of its own citizens.

On asking those polled about the need to establish priorities between the environment and the creation of employment, the population was slightly more in favour of the creation of employment than it was in 1997, when the answers were more balanced. In 1997, the average reply to this question was 3, having changed to 2.9 in 1998, where 1 stands for employment and 5 for the environment, in absolute terms.

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*METROPOLITAN BILBAO