The Ministry of Environment and Water has ordered emergency air quality inspections in the city of Ruse. Between October 2nd and 9th, the Executive Environmental Agency (EEA) will carry out measurements of air quality in the city, at a site designated by the RIEW-Ruse.

With the assistance of specialized equipment on a mobile measuring station, real-time measurements of organic substances - benzene, toluene, and xylene will be carried out. Additionally, fine particulate matter samples will be collected with a specialized device for detecting the substances benzo(a)pyrene and naphthalene using a chromatographic analysis technique. The substances to be analyzed are specific and may give rise to odours.

“This is just one of the measures that the Ministry of Environment is taking in response to the increased public interest in air quality in the city of Ruse, prompted by reports of intense odours in some areas of the city,” said Julian Popov, Minister of Environment and Water. “We will continue with the continuous monitoring of air quality in the city. We are also continuing with the due diligence of production activities that carry a pollution risk. We are actively working with all other local and national institutions to find solutions for the health and well-being of the residents of Ruse.”

RIEW-Ruse reacted to 546 signals for intense odours in the period from September 4th to 27th

In the period from September 4th to 27th, via all channels provided by the RIEW-Ruse, a total of 546 signals were received for odours likened to burnt plastic, strong chemical smell of waste oil, smell of bakelite, irritating chemical smell of industrial origin, chlorine, burnt medicines, gasoline, fuel oil or similar petroleum product. The reports were recorded at approximately the same time, in the time between 20:00 and 23:00, and in the morning between 05:00 and 08:00. This suggests that the odours are due to unorganized sources, and in most cases are likely to be unorganized volleys of untreated emissions from the operation of industrial producers.

The data from the air quality monitoring stations in the area of the Eastern Industrial Zone do not show any deviations from the air quality indicators. The same is valid for the data from the municipal monitoring station “Petar Beron”, operational since 2021.

Measurements do not show excess quantities of the daily average standards of the monitored organic indicators: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-p-Xylene, o-Xylene, phenol, o-Cresol, p-Cresol, naphthalene. Additionally, hourly average results of the monitored indicators were requested from the servicing company, which confirmed no exceedances.

Nearly 87 million leva have been provided by the Ministry of Environment for measures on air quality protection in the municipality of Ruse until 2027

The MOEW has been actively supporting the citizens of Ruse Municipality by funding air quality measures.

Under the Operational Programme “Environment” 2014-2020, nearly 47 million BGN have been provided for the purchase and delivery of electric buses and trolleybuses for the municipality of Ruse. A total of 35 new environmentally friendly electric public transport vehicles have replaced depreciated, polluting diesel buses.

The new Environment Programme 2021-2027 is to allocate more than 40 million BGN to improve air quality in Ruse municipality. More than 37 million BGN is under the measure “For cleaner air!” and will be available for replacing wood or coal stoves with modern environmentally friendly heating. An additional 3.5 million BGN will be invested in the construction of new and the improvement of the existing green systems of the urban environment – i.e. the expansion of parks and gardens, greening of the so-called “muddy spots” in the spaces between residential buildings.

In addition to the clean air measure, nearly 135 million BGN from the OPE 2014-2020 programme were invested in the construction of water and sewerage infrastructure on the territory served by “Water and Sewerage Ruse” Ltd. Over 27 million BGN were spent on the construction of an anaerobic installation for separate collection of biodegradable waste.

In September, the Ministry of Environment and Water requested from the  Romanian counterparts that Bulgaria joins the EIA procedure for the incinerator in Giurgiu

In September, the MOEW supported the citizens of Ruse in defending their right to a clean and safe environment by requesting increasingly more specific information from the Romanian Ministry of Environment on the project to build an incinerator for biological waste in the city of Giurgiu.

The position of the MOEW was that the information sent by the Romanian side did not contain enough specific information - facts, data and analyses - to allow the Bulgarian side to assess the impact and risk to human health and the degree of health risk for the population of the city of Ruse in case of implementation of the investment proposal.

The MOEW sent to the Romanian Ministry the opinions and the results from the public access to information, including the position by civic associations in Ruse.

Given the close proximity to the city of Ruse, Minister Popov asked his Romanian counterpart, that the Republic of Bulgaria be invited to participate in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure.

Because of the importance of the issue for the residents of Ruse, Minister Popov proposed that, once the Bulgarian comments on the report have been addressed, the plan for the construction of the incinerator in Giurgiu should be subject to a public consultation in Ruse.