ENVIS Centre on Control of Pollution Water, Air and Noise

MANDATE

Noise is defined as unwanted sound. Sound, which pleases the listeners, is music and that which causes pain and annoyance is noise. At times, what is music for some can be noise for others.

Section 2 (a) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 includes noise in the definition of ‘air pollutant’. Section 2(a) air pollution means any solid, liquid or gaseous substance including noise present in the atmosphere such concentration as may be or tent to injurious to human beings or other living creatures or plants or property or environment.

Further, for better regulation for noise pollution, there are The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 under The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The main functions of the Central Pollution Control Board are as follows:
* To advise the Central Government on any matter concerning the prevention, control and abatement of noise pollution.
* To plan and cause to be executed a nation-wide programme for the prevention, control, and abatement of noise pollution.
* To provide technical assistance and guidance to the State Pollution Control Board.
* To carry out and sponsor investigations and research related to prevention, control and abatement of noise pollution.
* To collect, compile, and publish technical and statistical data related to noise pollution; and
* To lay down and annul standards for the quality of noise.

The main functions of the State Pollution Control Boards are as follows:
* To plan a comprehensive programme for prevention, control, and abatement of noise pollution and to secure the execution thereof;
* To advise the State Government on any matter concerning prevention, control, and abatement of noise pollution.
* To collect and disseminate information related to noise pollution.
* To collaborate with Central Pollution Control Board in programme related to prevention, control, and abatement of noise pollution; and
* To inspect noise pollution control areas, assess quality of noise and to take steps for prevention, control and abatement of noise pollution in such areas.

OBJECTIVE

Due to the deleterious effects on human health and psychological well-being of the people because of the increasing ambient noise levels in public places from various sources, inter-alia, industrial activity, construction activity, fire crackers, sound producing instruments, generator sets, loud speakers, public address systems, music systems, vehicular horns, and other mechanical devices, it is considered necessary to regulate and control noise producing and generating sources with the objective of maintaining the ambient air quality standards in respect of noise.

Ambient air quality standards in respect of noise :

Note:
1. Day time shall mean from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM
2. Night time shall mean from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM
3. Silence zone is an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, educational institutes, 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.
*dB(A) Leq denotes the time weighted average of the level of sound in decibels on scale A which is relatable to human hearing.
A “decibel” is a unit in which noise is measured.
“A”, in dB(A) Leq, denotes the frequency weighting in the measurement of noise and corresponds to frequency response characteristics of the human ear.
Leq: It is energy mean of the noise level over a specified period.

MONITORING NETWORK

To comply with ‘The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000’, ambient noise inclusion as an environmental quality parameter and its monitoring in specified urban areas is regularly needed. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) established the National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network (NANMN) covering 70 locations in 7 metro cities viz. Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore spread over 7 states viz. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, and Karnataka. In observance to The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, CPCB needs continuous monitoring of noise quality in the country. Keeping this fact in mind, CPCB has established a network of noise quality monitoring stations under NANMN.

Monitoring Station under the National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network Programme (NANMN)

At present, under NANMN 70 continuous monitoring stations are established, 10 in each of seven identified cities i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

World Health Organization (WHO) GUIDELINES

WHO GUIDELINES FOR NOISE QUALITY

In WHO noise quality guidelines, values are summarized with regard to specific environments and effects. For each environment and situation, the guideline values take into consideration the identified health effects and are set, based on the lowest levels of noise that affect health (critical health effect). Guideline values typically correspond to the lowest effect level for general populations, such as those for indoor speech intelligibility. Noise guideline values are for the onset of health effects from noise exposures.

References:
Guidelines for community noise, World Health Organization, 1995.

NOISE POLLUTION (REGULATION AND CONTROL)

AUTHORITY LIST FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF NOISE RULES 2000

NOISE LIMITS FOR VEHICLES

NOISE STANDARDS FOR FIRECRACKERS

FIRECRACKER NOTIFICATION GAZETTE MARCH, 2013