Hello! Welcome back 🙂 Remember me sharing about how construction and roadworks contribute to harmful emissions? Today I’ll be reviewing the air pollution regulations with regards to the construction and development sectors in Singapore and examine its adequacy. I’ll also provide my thoughts on the possible room for improvements and suggest what steps the government can take 🙂
To be honest, Singapore’s current efforts in controlling air pollution from industries and trade premises are already commendable. This is a summary of why I say so:
(Catana, 2019; Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, n.d.; National Environment Agency, 2018)
Furthermore, in 2017, though there were 2,338 complaints regarding air pollution filed to PCD and none of which breached the air emissions limits, PCD ensured that the parties responsible execute immediate remedial actions to address the causes for complaints which are overloading, improper operation and/or poor maintenance of air pollution control equipment. This shows that the government does not condone any negligence and is serious about ensuring the safety of the users and people around who are affected.
PCD also has Compliance Testing and Inspections of Premises in place to ensure compliance with pollution control requirements, but it is only subjected to industrial and non-industrial premises.
Below are a few examples under the two types of premises:
| Industrial | Non-industrial |
| Factories | Farms |
| Trade premises | Domestic premises |
(Table showing Industrial and Non-industrial premises)
Since inspections are only for limited premises, it means that there might be other premises like roadworks, which are not factored in.
However, NEA mentioned that they also conduct source tests on gaseous emissions and it is unclear whether emissions from roadworks are included.
If it is indeed not included, it makes me wonder if the emissions contributed by other premises such as roadworks are not significant enough or the exposure of it is not long enough to pose a threat to our health to fall under either of the two premises…
Just recently, there was some road paving work near my house which involves the application of bitumen on the roads. As a result, there were asphalt fumes emitted and its strong and unbearable odor covered my house. The work and smell lasted for around an hour or more and have caused me headaches. I doubt that there were any monitoring systems to measure and ensure the concentration of asphalt fumes emitted was within the stipulated pollution control limits. However, even if there were to be monitoring systems and it is within the allowable limits, the odor produced from it is already enough to cause us health effects.
Apart from having monitoring systems, compliance testings, or regular inspections, the root of the problem is to change current conventional methods of construction processes to employ green technologies that can eliminate emissions. Like I mentioned in my previous post on construction, the government plays an important role and it is a good initiative to provide grants to encourage people to come up with technologies in construction and research and development programs that aim to create technologies that will increase productivity and efficiency (Building and Construction Authority, n.d.). However, as we devote more time to increasing efficiency, the government should also promote equal or more effort to come up with technologies that can also eliminate emissions and odor from construction and development because it is critical today as the effects of global warming are more apparent.
As the saying goes, “There are no safe levels for pollutants,” hence, the more we should leverage on human’s intelligence and constant innovative breakthroughs to allow a greener construction process for all our benefits, including our mother earth. 😁
Thank you for listening to my thoughts and feel free to share with me your thoughts as well, see you next time! 😁
Your environmental buddy,
Zhi Yong
References:
Building and Construction Authority. (n.d.). Built Environment Robotics R&D Programme. Retrieved from https://www1.bca.gov.sg/buildsg/buildsg-transformation-fund/built-environment-robotics-r-d-programme
Building and Construction Authority. (n.d.). 2 Stage Innovation Grant. Retrieved from https://www1.bca.gov.sg/buildsg/buildsg-transformation-fund/2-stage-innovation-grant
Catana, O. (2019, April 1). The red sunset light touched the top of the smoke columns making the scenery look surreal [Digital image]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/dwxemkUW_us
Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. (n.d.). Air Pollution Control. Retrieved from https://www.ifaq.gov.sg/mewr/apps/fcd_faqmain.aspx?qst=hRhkP9BzcBKnt75r+l1bopmAANxUYJsZ1XtCavhh+g8uifs%2FSSJBsHb3dzPQIYWY9OTouz+gJcd5UboOVzgRlLJA9P+n+twhgY+DP9dsPeSe04qJKNUFHx+kgN16jIjgBjLUD6XVIuc195gCL8ZwGxpq6AOvj1Ze
National Environment Agency. (2018). Environmental Protection Division Annual Report 2017. Retrieved from https://www.nea.gov.sg/docs/default-source/resource/publications/environmental-protection-division-annual-report/epd-annual-report-2017.pdf