H.B. Gümgüm / Journal of Environment (2012), Vol. 01, Issue 04, pp. 142-145
ISSN 2049-8373
Research Paper
Noise Pollution in the Tigris River Basin Provinces
(Turkey)
Hadice Budak Gümgüm
Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Dicle University, 21280 Diyarbakir /Turkey
Tel: 90 412 248 82 74; Fax: 90 412 248 83 00
E-Mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Environmental pollution and specially noise pollution continue to be one of the most important problems for mankind. The
scientific and technological progress, urbanization and increasing population lead to environmental noise pollution. As an
unexpected result, it has been identified that the noise pollution exist to a large extent in the Tigris River basin provinces
(Turkey) including the city of Diyarbakir in the first place, and that it is above tolerable limits (65-70 dB). Our
measurements performed at different times between the dates 15 September 2011 to 15 November 2011, on the avenues
and junctions that were appropriate to the definition of the area of dwelling in the investigated cities. Maximum noise levels
were observed between mornings (7.00-900) and evenings (16.30-18.30) and the result for Diyarbakir city centre was
observed up to 88 dB.
Keywords: Noise Pollution, Sound Level, Tigris River Basin, Traffic
1. Introduction
Environmental pollution which is the major problem
concerns everybody, from an ordinary citizen to the
highest ranked official, and imposes responsibility to
everyone towards future generations. The right to life is
the central theme of human rights. Therefore, it should be
everybody’s task that the ambient environment which
human beings live in should be natural and clean, and kept
away from every kind of pollution including noise
(Pettersson, 1997).
Noise is briefly defined as an acoustic phenomenon which
evokes annoying feelings, or as a group of unpleasant and
unwanted sounds. It is a kind of pollution which impairs
man’s mind-peace, internal peace and life silence, and
affects adversely from the physiological and psychological
points of view (Akan et al, 2012).
Developed countries in the world have put some norms on
the noise levels. For example in Sweden, the guidelines for
indoor noise levels are 45 dB and for outdoor are 65 dB
(Pettersson, 1997). If these limit values is exceeded, the
noise can be deemed to be a potential sanitary nuisance. A
modest assessment of noise was made in Calcutta -India
metro, and the range of noise levels were found 84 to 117
dB. These findings pose a potential threat to the workers
(Bhattachharya et al, 1996). Noise levels in a small
Badajoz City (Spain) was surpassed the internationally
recommended threshold (65 dB) with slight nuisance
(Barrigon-Morillas et al, 2005). Recently, sound levels
were measured as 70 to 80 dB at different streets of Yazd
City (Iran) (Nejadkoorki et al, 2010).
There is a lot of research on noise pollution in Turkey
cities but no one on Tigris River (Figure 1) basin cities.
Şanliurfa, Kahramanmaraş, Adana and Mersin cities which
are situated at west side of the investigated area are
gradually developed cities and their noise levels are higher
than the cities of Tigris River basin (Kumbur et al, 2003;
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H.B. Gümgüm / Journal of Environment (2012), Vol. 01, Issue 04, pp. 142-145
Kahraman et al, 2005; Yilmaz & Hocanli, 2006 and
Doygun & Gurun, 2008). In Sanliurfa the highest noise
value was measured as 82 dB. Maximum noise levels were
measured as 80, 82, 85 dB for Kahramanmaras, Adana and
Mersin cities respectively.
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The aim of this study is to measure noise level and
identifying the present situation in the provinces of Tigris
River basin, and by carrying out scientific analysis related
to future for the people living in the Tigris River basin so
as not to be subject with a major noise pollution in future.
Figure 1. Map of Tigris River Basin and Noise Pollution Investigation Area
The noise level in Erzurum City centre exceeded the
allowed values at 96 of 126 measurement points (Yilmaz
& Ozer, 2005). According to research that titled the
Investigation of The Environmental Noise Pollution in
Sivas City Centre, noise levels at the measurement points
were above by 100% and more than the recommended
limits of 65 dB (Ozyonar & Peker, 2008). Similar results
were observed for the cities of Kirikkale and Tokat
respectively (Akgungor & Demirel, 2008 and Ozer et al,
2009). Recently effect of noise pollution on quality of life
was investigated for the east region of Turkey. The results
show that psychologies and quality of life of bus drivers
were affected by the noise pollution and it had caused
them serious psychological symptoms (Akan et al, 2012).
Population of provinces and Total Road Motor Vehicles
(TRMVs) in the investigation area were compared to
determine the effect of highway traffic and population on
noise level (Table 1).
2. Materials and Methods
The research took place in five cities of the Tigris River
basin (Figure 1). In every city, five measurement stations
were chosen and measurements were performed in mornings and evenings. Noise measurements were performed by
CEL 231 apparatus in the provinces of Batman, Diyarbakir, Mardin, Siirt and Şirnak given in Table 2. The results
obtained at different times between the dates 15 September
Table 1. Population of Provinces and Total Road Motor Vehicles (TRMV) in the Investigation Area and Comparing it with the Neighbour
Provinces (RMV, 2010)
Investigation Area
Provinces/Region
Comparison Area
Population
TRMV
524.499
1.570.943
764.033
310.468
34.381
96.272
51.291
13.596
Şirnak
457.997
28.475
Total
3.627.940
224.015
Batman
Diyarbakir
Mardin
Siirt
Provinces/Region
Population
TRMV
Adiyaman
Gaziantep
Kilis
Şanliurfa
593.931
1.753.596
124.452
1.716.254
64.962
320.032
28.457
194.193
Southeast Anatolia
Adana-Mersin
Turkey
7.816.173
3.776.744*
74.724.269
831.659
850.617
15.095.603
*: Adana: 2.108.805; Mersin: 1.667.939
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H.B. Gümgüm / Journal of Environment (2012), Vol. 01, Issue 04, pp. 142-145
2011-15 November 2011, at mornings (7.00-9.00) and
evenings (16.30-18.30) on the avenues and junctions that
were appropriate to the definition of the area of dwelling in
the investigated cities. On these points, noise measurement was done in the form of dB unit.
Table 2. Measured Noise Values in the Tigris River Basin Provinces
(Turkey)
Provinces
Measurement Stations
Ahmet Arif Boulevard
Istasyon street
Batman
Komando street
Petroleum refinery gate
Turgut Özal Boulevard
Dağkapi
Dörtyol
Diyarbakir Mardinkapi
Ofis junction
Seyrantepe junction
Cumhuriyet square
Diyarbakir road junction
Mardin
Hasan Ayyar bazaar
Meydanbaşi park
The old PTT building
Aydinlar street
Cezaevi(prison)
Siirt
Cumhuriyet street
Güreş street
Cizre street
Cumhuriyet square
Şirnak
Gazi street
Uludere street
Measured Noise
(dB)
79
76
73
78
77
85
77
76
86
88
69
78
58
60
56
75
58
77
75
70
67
66
60
3. Results and Discussion
Noise pollution is defined as the generation of unwelcome
and displeasing sound in the environment. Among the
various sources of noise pollution, automobiles and other
transport systems contribute the maximum sound production. Because of the other important noise pollutants
industrial production systems are negligible in the area, so
it is possible to say that the root cause of noise pollution is
transportation machines- traffic vehicles in the Tigris River
basin. The results in Table 1 and Table 2 show that noise
pollution and population and total TRMVs numbers are
very much dependent on each other. When the number of
motor vehicles increases the noise levels also increase. The
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biggest TRMVs ratio for Diyarbakir and Siirt is ~7 and
measured highest noise values are 88 dB and 77 dB
respectively. The measured highest and lowest noise
values are measured in Diyarbakir and Sirnak cities as 88
dB and 58 dB respectively (Table 2). Noise values were
found lower than 80 dB level in the all the investigated
cities except Diyarbakir. It is possible to say that there is
no noise nuisance in Siirt and Sirnak cities. So the city
Hakkari with lower population (272165) and TRMVs
(9,267) was not investigated.
4. Conclusion
The noise pollution which impairs physiological and psychological health of human beings, and reduces their efficiency is not scary in the undeveloped part of the basin
cities. But the noise alarm bells are ready to start to ring in
partially developed cities. So it is required to take necessary precautions. For stop or decrease the noise nuisance, it
is suitable to focus on mass transportation and cultivate
plants along the streets to prevent the noise pollution.
Acknowledgement
I want to thank to mayors of investigated cities in the
research area and to Dr. Bahattin Gümgüm for their
contributions.
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