DUBAI, 11 March 2008 — Authorities in Dubai have launched a major cleanliness campaign that, among other measures, imposes fines of up to 500 dirhams for spitting in public places or littering.
As part of emirate-wide efforts to make the streets and countryside cleaner, authorities have begun a campaign to raise awareness of recent changes to municipal laws, which includes a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams for septic truck drivers who dump wastewater illegally. Truck drivers found dumping other trash anywhere besides in designated waste-disposal areas could face fines of up to 50,000 dirhams. Vehicles used to dump waste could also be impounded and the owners of the vehicles could face losing their business licenses.
Meanwhile, a study conducted under the project called On-road Vehicle Emission Measurement Using Remote Sensing Devices on Dubai roads has revealed that air pollution from vehicles is considerably high. The study compared emissions from vehicles in Dubai to the same data from numerous US cities and found rates to be much higher in the emirate.
The municipality conducted the survey at 43 locations across the city in cooperation with the Roads and Transport Authority and Dubai Police from May 2007 to February 2008 with the aim of formulating effective strategies and policies to control vehicle emissions which account for over 75 percent of the city’s air pollution.
“The idea was to measure pollutant levels in a vehicle’s tailpipe while the vehicle is plying on the road. Five major air pollutants — hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide — and smoke emissions were detected. The remote sensing technology helped avoid connecting the testing device physically to a vehicle,” said Redha Hassan Salman, head of Environmental Protection and Safety Section in the Environment Department of Dubai Municipality.
Studies in cities with major air pollution problems, such as Mexico City, have shown that the age of the vehicles plays a major factor in pollution: the older the vehicle the more it pollutes. Vehicles with faulty or nonexistent catalytic converters also play an important factor. Policies that have helped reduce pollution in urban centers include an effective system of annual vehicular emission inspections, retiring older vehicles from the roads, promoting public transportation and greener technologies, reducing the traffic of trucks within urban centers, and, in some extreme cases, imposing a ban on the use of personal vehicles one day per week.
