14/03/2024
ADDIS FORTUNE
Sound Pollution Control Rule: To be observed?
There is a standard law regarding sound, which puts a restriction on the level of sound in Addis Abeba. Noise usually goes for unwanted sound, and the problem with noise is not only that it is unwanted but also that it negatively affects human health and well-being.
Transport vehicles, industrial plants, construction projects, trade and residential houses, demonstrations, aviation industry, and military equipments can be mentioned as sources of most noise. However, transportation systems, factory machinery and construction work are considered huge sources of noise worldwide.
The impacts of noise pollution are categorized in two according to their effects on human health and the environmental.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that chronic exposure to noise, including daytime traffic, is strongly associated with diseases and premature death. Death aside, its impact is shown on health and behaviour of people. It can contribute to cardiovascular effects, and exposure to moderately high levels during a single eight hour period could cause vasoconstriction leading to a statistical rise in blood pressure of five to 10 points and an increase in stress as well as to increased incidence of coronary artery disease.
An impact of noise on the environment can be explained by reduction of usable animal life habitat due to noise increase, which, in the case of endangered species, may be part of the path to extinction.
The existence of laws alone has helped ban or put corrective action against different noises that disturb and lead people to psychological stress as well as mental fatigue. People can use such laws to protect themselves for exposure to extreme levels of noise, which, basically, are abuses of their rights.
Aberra Birhanu from Addis Abeba City Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) noted that the issue of noise was left mainly untended in a presentation he made entitled
