Characterization and evaluation of noise pollution in a tourist coastal town with an adjacent nature reserve

A noise pollution survey for a standard tourist coastal town, called El Portil (South-west Spain), that is additionally surrounded by a nature reserve, has been made. The main problem of this tourist town is that its population increases tenfold during the summer in relation to winter, this fact generating a large increase in the noise pollution experienced by the residents, who are tourists trying to relax during the holiday. The main noise sources identified were the traffic on the principal road crossing the town, and recreational activities of residents enjoying their vacation. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to characterize and assess the noise pollution experienced by the residents of a standard tourist town, in order to improve its management and development by the competent authorities.Two independent methodologies were selected to achieve this objective: (1) monitoring for 24 h of a point close to the road; (2) sampling of 50 points along the studied area (the nature reserve and the town areas most affected by the main road). It has been concluded that the A-5052 road is the main source of noise pollution, generating during a summer 24 h period a continuous equivalent level about 5 dBA higher than in winter. In addition, summer nights are about 10 dBA noisier than winter nights, which is 6 dBA higher than the guideline thresholds established by the European Union. It has also been verified that the nature reserve located next to the town (Lagoon of El Portil), suffers significant noise pollution up to a distance of about 100 m from the main road.