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Due to pollution, the air became unbreathable again on Saturday night in Bucharest and Ilfov, just two days after a similar episode.
In some areas, the limit values were exceeded almost 6 times, in which doctors clearly said that there was a link between contamination and severe manifestations of coronavirus infection.
But these are the values registered by independent stations, while the officials assure that there were increases, but that they did not exceed the allowed values.
However, they went to check and identified a possible source of contamination: Sintești-Ilfov improvised smelter.
On Polonă Street, in a central area of Bucharest, independent measurements on Saturday night showed exceedances of 554% for PM 2.5 and 298% for PM 10, the most dangerous particulate matter that can infiltrate our airways and lungs. .
The same happened in Sector 6. The maximum values for PM 2.5 were exceeded almost 5 times and more than 3 times for PM 10.
By comparison, the air seemed more breathable in Buftea, Ilfov, where overtaking was “only” 3 times over the limit.
Irony is the only weapon left to those who constantly face these episodes of chronic pollution, denied by the authorities.
This time, it is true, officials acknowledged that there have been increases in almost all monitoring stations, but the officially published figures are far from alarming.
However, they went to the control and identified a possible source of contamination. A makeshift foundry in Sintești, where all kinds of materials are burned, which was not working at the time, but the owner had been fined in the past for the same and a criminal case was prosecuted.
But officials have another explanation: the fire lit by the people to warm up.
Pollution in the yard of the Environment Agency
Every time the cold arrives, two things happen: in the countryside, people start to make fire with rubble to save the wood prepared for winter and thermal inversion also occurs: the cold air is simply still and stuck to the ground, and pollutant particles are no longer dispersed, the air is no longer primed.
So far it is clear. What is not clear is why independent air quality measurement networks show different values, much higher, than those of the authorities.
Officials from the Environmental Guard, for example, told us that the highest values were recorded here, at the exit of Pasaje Obor, but also, ironically, in the courtyard of the Environment Agency.
The only places where the limits would have been exceeded. But much lower than the number of independent stations.
But those who fight for the protection of the environment have an explanation.
“They don’t have sensors to measure, just kidding”.
Theoretically, things should change. The Environment Minister has agreed to accept European money for a nationwide air quality measurement system.
