Environment Minister orders urgent measures following Sunday night spike in Bucharest air pollution

Minister of the Environment, Water and Forestry Costel Alexe on Monday morning called an emergency meeting with the leaders of the National Environmental Guard (GNM) and of the National Agency for Environmental Protection (ANPM) following the surge in Bucharest's air pollution Sunday night. The onset of the air quality alert occurred at around 21:00 hrs on Sunday evening, and the pollution peak was recorded around 3:00 a.m on Monday. In this interval, PM10 readings at the stations of the national air quality monitoring network were up to 8 times the admissible limit, including exceedances of nitrogen oxides.

The meeting assessed the episode of nocturnal pollution and established the measures required.

"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 the meeting.

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. AGERPRES