Central Finland ELY Center: Summary of the results of the Suolahti resident survey conducted in March-April 2024
In March-April 2024, the ELY Center implemented a month-long electronic survey, which was targeted at Suolahti residents, cottagers and those staying longer in the community.
The survey was carried out as part of the environmental permit monitoring that is part of the tasks of the ELY Center, and its purpose was to map the potential harm to the residential environment caused by the operations of the Suolahti plywood factory and Kumpuniemi Voima.
It was decided to conduct the survey due to the individual, but repeated adverse reports reported to the ELY Center. Disadvantages and the frequency of experiencing them were wanted to be investigated anonymously, and it was possible to give answers in the survey based on location data.
The survey was announced on the website of the city of Äänekoski, with an announcement in Siša-Suomen newspaper and via a banner in the electronic version of the newspaper.
163 respondents in the survey
A total of 163 responses were received to the survey. Most of the respondents (146) stated that they are permanent residents of Suolahti. Of the respondents, 12 said they were holiday residents and four were temporary visitors. On the website of the city of Äänekoski, it is stated that the Suolahti agglomeration has approximately 4500 inhabitants. Despite the reasonably good response activity, the proportion of respondents compared to the population of the Suolahti agglomeration was quite small (3,6%), which must be taken into account when interpreting the results.
Based on the survey, Suolahti experiences quite a lot of even daily noise nuisances, and odor nuisances also occur at least monthly. As a rule, a smaller group experiences dust problems less often than monthly. The water quality problems of Rantarait's ditches and Suolahti in Ala-Keitele come up in the verbal answers. It should be noted that many of those who responded to the survey had not experienced any disadvantages from the operation of the factory.
The survey has been answered anonymously, and the ELY Center states that the results are each respondent's personal assessments or experiences of the situation. Based on the results, the same smell or sound can be perceived as either negative or positive, i.e. the harm is not clear-cut. The ELY Center is aware that even asking about disadvantages can increase the experience of disadvantages, and answering anonymously may sharpen the answers. It is also not possible to verify the source of the harm from experiences or observations.
New noise report in 2025
Based on the results, the ELY Center prepares the necessary follow-up investigations and actions in cooperation with the operator.
The operator has told, among other things, about the renovation measures to be carried out already this fall to the ditches of the coastal path. During the next year, a new noise survey has been agreed with the operator. The ELY Center, as a supervisor, pays attention to the fact that in the implementation of noise measurements, the areas where the residents have found the noise to be disturbing are especially taken into account. The conclusions of the noise survey require measures to be taken to reduce the noise nuisance observed in the measurements.
The report required by the ELY Center on the possible odor nuisances of the Suolahti factories was commissioned with odor measurements and modeling in the spring of 2022, but no clear needs for measures emerged based on the report. The need for further clarifications is being considered.
The ELY Center has inspected the Suolahti plywood factory's new hatchery and overflow water treatment systems in the summer of 2024 and sees that water treatment has improved for them. The results of water quality are still monitored annually with measurements of both the water leaving the factory and the water body.
In general, the environmental protection measures of the Suolahti factories are monitored regularly in connection with the environmental permit monitoring that is part of the tasks of the ELY Center.
We thank everyone who answered the survey for their valuable feedback!
You can find out more about the survey answers from the links below:
Suolahti resident survey: noise nuisance
Suolahti resident survey: odor nuisance
Suolahti resident survey: dust problems
Suolahti resident survey: general answers and other perceived disturbances
News published, modified 30.9.2024 at 10:17