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High pollution levels recorded in Bucharest on Sunday night, Monday morning
The national network and independent networks of monitoring the air quality in Bucharest have registered record excess of PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollution on the night of Sunday and on Monday morning. For the PM 2.5 pollution, a fine dust mixed with various substances, the level has exceeded by 900-1,000 the maximum admitted limits, while for PM 10 the pollution has reported exceedance by 800%, according to measurements on airly.eu or aerlive.ro platforms.
Environment minister Costel Alexe explained the pollution high levels were mainly due to uncontrolled combustion, but there are also suspicions related to potential industrial activities in Bucharest and Ilfov county.
"Tonight's episode is the cumulative effect of several factors that include the uncontrolled fires in Bucharest and Ilfov County, the midnight fire that broke out at the North Railway Station, as well as vegetation fires or tires burning Sunday night. The episode of nocturnal pollution was also favored by the calm atmosphere, as the pollutants stayed over the Capital in the absence of wind. The situation is now closer to normality, the concentration of air pollutants is on a downward trend," said Minister Costel Alexe after an emergency meeting with the leaders of the National Environmental Guard (GNM) and of the National Agency for Environmental Protection (ANPM)
He added that the size of the pollution spike gives him reason to suspect that industrial activities take place in Ilfov County or in Bucharest, especially at night, with the release of high amounts of pollutants in the atmosphere. There are currently 46 companies in Ilfov County and 69 in the city of Bucharest authorized to perform economic activities that include combustion processes, Alexe said.
Following the pollution spike, Minister Costel Alexe ordered a set of measures: "By the end of the week, we will check all sources of pollution, all sources of combustion in Bucharest and Ilfov County, to see if all the respective operators have equipment for the continuous monitoring and measurement of combustion pollutant emissions. All the operators will be checked to make sure none carries out activities without the necessary license from the environmental authorities. The economic agents found by GNM to not have the required equipment or to not have it specified in the environmental permit shall have their license urgently reviewed. All economic operators must own such equipment and should be required to communicate in real time the concentrations of pollutants emitted, including at night, to the National Agency for Environmental Protection, the Bucharest or Ilfov Agency for Environmental Protection, so that the population is informed in real time about pollution spikes. The meeting has also decided to have ANPM and GNM experts on standby duty at the Minister of the Environment, Water and Forestry dispatch center, so that we can quickly instruct action plans, including during the night. All mayor's offices around Bucharest will be required to get the local police even more involved in monitoring and preventing uncontrolled burning, amid spring cleaning activities," the Minister said. Costel Alexe also said that the air quality website www.calitateaer.ro will be upgraded to facilitate a more effective interaction with the public.
Following the events, the Minister of Environment, Water and Forestry also requested the resignation of the management of the Bucharest Environmental Protection Agency for failing to notify in real time the nocturnal pollution spike to the Ministry and the other institutions in charge.