Chemical Engineering Transactions (Sep 2016)
Implementation of Integrated Nuisances Action Plan
Abstract
In everyday life people are simultaneously exposed to several annoying sources (sounds, vibrations and odours), which emerge from background of considerable variability of land uses, infrastructures, residential patterns, topography, meteorology condition, and standards quality of life. The European Union has provided in recent years (and is going to update) several tools to harmonize noise mapping methodologies and relative Noise Action Plans through directives and guidelines. Unfortunately the same efforts have not been put in the harmonization of approaches in other annoying sources like odours. As a consequence, each European Member State at national or even at local level defined its own direct or indirect approach to limit odour impacts, usually considerably different one from the others. The most common approach to deal with noise impact at a policy, economic and strategy level is the use of priority indices focused to highlight areas more sensitive and where mitigation actions will be more advisable or urgent. Locations that for their specific land use are more sensitive to noise impacts (e.g. residential areas) are generally also sensitive to odour impacts. According these, the aim of the present research is to provide a brief review of the most used European strategies in noise action plans end try to extend their approaches for the definition of a nuisance action plan, able to control both odour and noise. Paper present a possible implementation of integrated nuisances action plan in the municipality of Palma Campania (Campania Region, Italy). The analysis underlines that is possible define, under the same set of nuisance indicators, the degree of sensitivity of areas according to population, land uses, levels of exposures and/or distance from the annoying sources. Nuisance acceptability levels are then definable according to the sensitivity degree of the locations. Factors related to vibrations and visual perception of the landscape can further contribute to control total sensorial annoyance in the land planning.