Parents in Rousse demand measures to curb air pollution

Parents in the city of Rousse in Northeast of Bulgaria, on the right bank of the Danube, on 7^th of November, sent their children to school with masks to express their dissatisfaction with the air pollution in the city. For a fifth day in a row, there are clouds of smoke from the burning landfill. However, people are outraged not only by the specific incident, but by the regular pollution from industrial gasses.

Several parents and their children arrived this morning with masks at Vassil Levski school. They say they worry about their health, because for a long time there has been no such thing in Rousse as a walk in the fresh air.

Tihomir Angelov: Somebody needs to wake up, whether it would be an institution or the government, it does not matter. Something must change in this city. We cannot be afraid of opening our windows to get fresh air.

Desimira Babadzhanova: The measures should be taken by the Regional Inspection of Environment and Waters (RIEW), and their behavioуr is currently unacceptaqble. In those days when there was a fire at the landfill, and it was clear to everyone that there were all sorts of poisons in the air, they came out with a statement that there was no exceedance of the standards of air cleanliness, which is absurd.

The environment inspection figures are based on the data from the two measuring stations in the city, one of which is in the Second Fire Brigade, in close proximity to the burning landfill.

Lubomir Atanasov, Director of RIEW, Rousse: The data from both stations do not show any worrying results. So there are no risks of pollution of the environment and no risks for residents.

In the BNT breakfast show on 7^th of November, the Minister of Environment and Water, Neno Dimov, said that the local authorities are maily responsible for air quality, which should focus on the measures envisaged in their plans.

The flames of the landfill are diminishing. The operator of the landfill company expects the burning of methane to be completely suppressed within two days. Meanwhile, Rousee residents are preparing a new protest against the dirty air on Saturday.