Burning stubble in Romania caused air pollution in Bulgaria’s Rousse

Exceedance of fine particulate matter, which was several time above the standards, was reported yesterday (October 24) in the Danube city of Rousse. The reason for the air pollution was burning stubble in the area of the neighbouring Romanian town of Giurgiu. Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Bucharest Todor Churov contacted the Deputy Mayor of Giurgiu who assured that the stubble fire was extinguished. However, this led to another air pollution of Rousse from the Romanian side.

According to the data of the two stations of the Environment Inspectorate of Rousse, on October 25 the level of fine particles in the city is within the norm for the season, i.e. about 20-30 microgrammes per cubic metre. However, yesterday, for more than an hour, the level of fine dust particles in Rousse reached over 400 microgrammes. This significasntly exceeds the permissible standards of air quality and the city was covered with smoke.

However, people in Rousse are not calm and say that along with the odour in the air, there was soot, which has worried many of them. In one of the kindergartens they thought the fire was very close and were worried about the children.

Since the beginning of the autumn, there have been several time of air pollution coming from the Romanian side, but according to Rousse Eco-Inspection this latest one was the most intense.