They insist with a signature for the report on the state of the air monitoring system

What air we breathe – the question may be rhetorical for the citizens, but there is no official answer from the state. Environmental organizations from the country started a national petition from Veliko Tarnovo, with which they want the Ministry of the Environment and Water and the Executive Agency for the Environment to publish the report on the state of our national air monitoring system. The document is expected to clarify what the problems are and whether air pollution is measured effectively and qualitatively.

The non-governmental organizations that fight for cleaner air in the cities insist on receiving the report, which should have been ready last year, in order to make public the problems in our national system for measuring air purity, Ivaylo Popov pointed out. from the association "For the Earth", part of the civic association "Breathe, Bulgaria":

"We have already discovered a number of problems, for example in Sofia with some stations, and in other cities we have discovered problems, but we want to see what the institutions consider to be a problem, so that these problems can be publicly, openly recognized and start to work on them, so that as soon as possible we can in Bulgaria, in the cities where the air is measured, to know that it is being measured correctly, objectively, so that we know what we are breathing. And more importantly, based on this information, adequate measures should be taken so that we breathe air that does not kill us and does not make us sick.

The signature can be found on the Facebook page of "Breathe, Bulgaria". There is no deadline for its collection before it is submitted to the Minister of Ecology – whether ex officio or following from the regular government:

"At the moment we are addressing the official minister. We hope they respect the citizens' right to know what is happening in Bulgaria, what is happening with the air quality system and what is happening with the air, because according to all Bulgarian and European laws we have the right to this information and it should not be hidden . This hiding creates even greater doubts and worries that the institutions are not measuring air quality in the right way and that some problems are being covered up.

The report was requested from the non-governmental organization in accordance with the Law on Access to Public Information. They filed an administrative case against the silent refusal.

Ruse is one of the Bulgarian cities that has become proverbial for its dirty air from the 90s until today, when new investors continue to emit harmful emissions. The problems are becoming complex, and the people we report are called to the police for explanations, said Ivelina Petrova from the "Breathe, Ruse" association:

"It is about bursts, nocturnal, unorganized emissions that poison us. We are reporting. At the beginning of the year, we also closed the Danube Bridge. Minister Julian Popov came. We have received successive promises for the creation of a complex commission that will carry out complex inspections and a complex program. Our problems became complex because it turned out that with our signals to the institutions we harass them. We were summoned by the police, accused of a crime against the environment and wildlife, for reporting and for requesting information on ODDS from the RISW. Now the prosecutor's office has self-referred based on our testimony and has initiated pre-trial proceedings. Now we are called as witnesses this time to collect data on pollution in Ruse.
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In Dimitrovgrad, people took a breather after the huge problems they had with the pollution from TPP 3, said Veselin Valev from the association "Breathe, Dimitrovgrad":

"CHP 3, because of the low price of electricity, stopped operations, but that does not mean that it will not start again, and that worries us. We organized several protests and our goal was to publicize the real problem among people and make them realize that diseases do not come only from viruses. We are a region with cancer and respiratory diseases in children. Our suspicions are that they are from the polluted air, although it is difficult to prove.

In Dimitrovgrad, people can see the parameters of the air, but not quite, and that's why they cried out for help, says Hristo Hristozov:

"The monitor that reports the results of the station is placed inside the lobby of the municipality and people in their free time, when they go for walks, do not have access to it. We have already made several systems with which we inform citizens, we have our own measuring station. With it, we created a viber channel that automatically alerts people when certain parameters are exceeded. When your child plays in the park, you don't know what air he is breathing and whether it is not harmful for him. I believe that the state will hear us and we will know what air we breathe. Good will is needed and there should be no political obstacles for this. It is necessary to show what the problems are in order to be able to look for their solution.

In Veliko Tarnovo, with European funding, the municipality built two small stations, which are in a park environment and mainly measure pollution with fine dust particles. The station also has a large investor in wood processing, whom Veliko Tarnovo residents blame for the city's dirty air. Pollution also comes from traffic, and in winter from wood and coal stoves, for the replacement of which there is funding provided, but no tangible interest among citizens. The people of Veliko Tarnovo are completely unaware of the air they breathe, comments Roman Rachkov from "Breathe, Veliko Tarnovo":

"If we talk about the official monitoring system, even if they see something, it will be about the state of the air in Gorna Oryahovitsa, because the only station of the Executive Agency for the Environment, which is part of the national monitoring network, is in Gorna Oryahovitsa. which will in no way show how clean the air is in the city".

Roman Rachkov proposes to build a system to be implemented in the system of electronic boards at the bus stops in Veliko Tarnovo and at least on them people can see some of the air parameters measured by the two municipal stations.

We know what the composition of the air on Mars is, but not what we breathe on the street where we live or at the bus stop, say the representatives of the environmental organizations and continue to ask the state to make public the information about the cleanliness of the air.