158 inspections were carried out by the Sofia Inspectorate on January 17, 18 and 19 in connection with the NIMH forecast for the expected potential of air pollution with PM10, 9 acts of violators were drawn up. The Sofia Municipality also introduced the measure “green ticket” for public transport and free buffer parking lots on January 19 and 20.
The number of inspections of potential air pollutants since the beginning of the year is 545 in total, and of acts - 50. Of these:
· 252 inspections are of car service stations, workshops and other sites, potential sources of air pollution;
· 143 inspections were carried out on private properties, and 10 criminal proceedings were initiated for violations;
· Out of 150 inspections of construction sites, 39 acts of administrative violation were drawn up.
As part of the entire air cleanliness mechanism, the teams of cleaning companies also cleaned street surfaces of debris after winter treatments, as well as manual sweeping.
The Sofia Municipality recalls that travel with a green ticket will also be valid today - January 20 for preventive purposes. So far, the travel of citizens and the work of drivers and cashiers of the Central Bus Station has been going smoothly, with no reports of irregularities or ambiguities.
The Sofia Municipality is also taking the following additional measures as part of the overall approach to dealing with air pollution.
· Control of low-emission zones for cars and domestic heating:
Current control continues for violations of the introduced bans on entry of cars from ecogroups 1 and 2 into the area of the “small ring” in the center of the capital, as well as for the use of wood and coal stoves in 9 metropolitan districts, in buildings and places with an established heat transfer or gas distribution network - "Sredets", "Krasno Selo", "Izgrev", "Ilinden", "Studentski", "Oborishte", "Vazrazhdane", "Lozenets", "Triaditsa".
To date, over 1,500 notifications have been sent for violation of the ban on entry of cars into the area of the small ring. Since the introduction of the low-emission zone on December 1st, the number of violators has doubled and currently averages around 2,000 per day. This is also a 10-fold decrease in the number of the most polluting cars from eco-groups 1 and 2 entering the center of Sofia, compared to before the introduction of the measure.
· Regulations for sensitive groups
A message has been sent to all schools and kindergartens with a recommendation to limit children's time outdoors until the end of the week (January 20th).
Additional street washing is a measure that is also applied in case of moderate excess of PM levels, but only in appropriate weather conditions, in order to avoid dangerous icing.
The Sofia Municipality publishes information on air quality through the Information System “About the Air“, at the following link: https://air2.sofia.bg/airpublic/air/data/forecasts/measures/list/, as well as for the NIMH forecast for the expected potential of the atmosphere for PM10 pollution in the territory of Sofia here: https://air2.sofia.bg/airpublic/forecasts/list/.