Air Pollution on River Danube Causes Alarm in Bulgarian City, 19 July 2022

Bulgaria’s outgoing Minister of Environment and Water, Borislav Sandov, said on Tuesday that increased air pollution in Ruse, the largest Bulgarian city on the River Danube, is being caused by a fire on a barge...

However, locals say that the area’s pollution problem predates the barge incident.

“The barge has been burning for three or four days but has nothing to do with air pollution being a long-standing problem – the smell is especially strong during the nights,” artist Ina Valentinova, who lives in Ruse, told BIRN...

Valentinova said that light and ferrous metals factories in the city could be key factors in the pollution, and that there are few checks on how industrial activity affects the environment...

The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters in Ruse stated on Tuesday that there are heightened levels of sulphur, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine dust particles in the air but so far the situation is within acceptable norms and poses no threat to health...