For several days, Bucharest was extremely polluted with PM 10 and PM 2.5 particles, especially in the evening, at night and in the morning. For example, according to the official data of the National Air Quality Monitoring Network, on Sunday at the station in Voluntari, on the way out of Bucharest, there was an excess of PM 2.5 content 6 times higher than the average daily level recommended by the World Health Organization. , and at PM 10 double the recommendations. At the station in Tineretului area, the values ​​recorded for PM 2.5 were 4 times higher and for PM 10 – twice as high.

Despite the fact that there was mourning in Bucharest last weekend, the Ministry of the Environment has not yet given any explanation, only published how beautiful and good the Retezat National Park is. The Environmental Protection did not give any explanations either.

In recent years, such excesses often occur in the cold season, but the authorities either do not say anything, or say that thermal inversion has occurred, or check again those who burn garbage in the fields around the city.

Which areas of Bucharest are the most polluted?

We don’t know how polluted each area of ​​Bucharest is, because not all stations in the Ministry of Environment’s network are operational, and those that are, not all measure PM 2.5. But we can get an idea by looking at airly.org which areas are the most polluted.

The worst pollution is on the outskirts of the city and in nearby towns, while it is much better in the center.

The capital’s mayor, Nikušor Dan, recently announced that the municipality has received 44 sensors provided free of charge to the Bucharest Municipality by the Vital Strategies Foundation, which will make up the new air quality monitoring system owned by the capital city hall. complements the one managed by the Ministry of the Environment. In the next period, they will be calibrated and we will learn a little more about the pollution in Bucharest.

“The system managed by the Environment Directorate performs the role of constant monitoring of the evolution of concentrations of suspended particles PM2.5, PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). This system will later contribute to the development of local policies to reduce the concentration of pollutants in the air. Sensors will be installed during January, after the completion of the calibration stage, in various districts of the Capital, they will be announced later.

However, it is worth noting that we have been waiting for this network for at least 7 years.

Why is Bucharest so polluted?

According to studies conducted by the capital city hall, the National Institute of Public Health, the biggest polluters are transport (45%) and residential heating (45% – this includes the centralized system and individual heating – furnaces, boilers, others). heating sources).

Garbage is also burned around Bucharest. They do not appear in official reports, but the former Chief Commissioner of Environmental Protection, Octavian Bercanu, said in an interview with HotNews.ro that the main polluter of Bucharest is transport, followed by illegal burning of waste. He said that after the Environmental Guard went out to the field almost every day and greatly reduced the phenomenon, the air quality improved significantly.

In April-October, the air in Bucharest is suitable for breathing, with some exceptions. The main problems are from November to April, when, in addition to transport and garbage burning, heating of residential buildings also begins.

Heating of residential buildings consists of a centralized system – where CETs meet environmental standards, as ELCEN representatives say, and individual heating – boilers, stoves, etc.

CET is constantly monitored, but there is a large information gap on the last segment. We don’t know how many households have power plants, how much each of them pollutes, how many households have stoves, what people set on fire accordingly.

Fighting poverty can be part of the solution

In Colentini, a few streets around me, there are several houses with stoves, there are poor people who cannot afford to buy firewood, and they set fire to what they find in the garbage, from plastic bottles to scraps of furniture, which become extremely toxic when burned . Black toxic smoke comes out of their pipes and litters the entire area. It’s not their fault, they’re doing everything they can to survive, most likely they don’t even know they’re taking years off their lives and hurting others.

• i didn’t see there is no inventory of the Ministry of Natural Resources or the City Hall of these households and solutions for these people.
• i didn’t see an information campaign that clearly explains so that everyone understands what it means to burn plastic, tires and pieces of furniture.
• i didn’t see solutions, not the case of those who burn waste in the fields around Bucharest to sell the metal and make a living, so the burning continues. Read more about the Syntesty phenomenon here.

If you do the math, it might be cheaper to help these people than to pour hundreds of millions of euros into the health care system to treat people who got sick because of pollution.

Thermal inversion

In addition to all these problems, in the cold season, when the city is still more polluted, after the beginning of the heating season, the phenomenon of thermal inversion also occurs, which blocks the polluted air close to the ground. Practically, the city ceases to be well ventilated.

The European Environment Agency explains the phenomenon: “More precisely, during periods of high atmospheric pressure in the winter months, solar radiation reaches the earth, heating it up. At night, the lack of cloud cover causes a rapid loss of heat from the ground, and the air in direct contact with the ground cools. Warm air rises and acts as a lid, trapping colder air near the ground. Pollution, including from traffic, is also blocked, so the layer of air closest to the ground becomes more and more polluted.”

Consequences of pollution

Excessive pollution in Bucharest affects children the most, as adults already have a developed respiratory system, said doctor Mihai Kraiu in an interview with HotNews.ro.

Babies suffer from life in the womb, and the greater the exposure, the greater the risk of premature birth and lungs that don’t develop properly. After birth, exposure to pollution reduces lung volume, that is, normal lung development, says Dr. Craiu, and leads to chronic nasal problems – persistent nasal congestion, polyps and tonsil operations, and repeated infections – such as otitis, asthma.

In Romania, 1 out of 8 schoolchildren has asthma, says a doctor. Pollution can cause obesity and lower concentration, making us more nervous, says Dr Craiu.

A study by the National Institute of Public Health, carried out between 2010 and 2017, shows that in Bucharest there is a clear link between the increase in PM10 and PM2.5 (dust) pollution and the increase in the number of serious diseases affecting Bucharest. residents: heart attack, acute myocardial infarction, acute infections of the upper respiratory tract, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A document obtained by HotNews.ro shows that if pollution were to drop to the level predicted in 2010, Bucharest residents would have 4 years more life expectancy.

Some conclusions

To combat pollution, we must first know what causes it in every area, at every hour of the day and night.

Then, depending on the reasons, it is necessary to take appropriate measures, starting from measures to reduce traffic jams, modernization of the central heating system and its expansion, social policies for low-income categories.

Unfortunately, the authorities do not even talk about it.

—

Photo source: ©Bogdan Anghel|Dreamstime.com