Serbia’s National Environmental Association (NEA) has said that, according to the relevant environmental standards, the PM10 values should not exceed their maximum permitted level 35 days in a calendar year.
However, the NEA says that the prescribed limit value of 50 micrograms per cubic metre of PM10 particles has already been exceeded in seven cities since the beginning of the year, even though it is only May. PM10 are particles that are a mixture of soot, smoke, metals, nitrates, sulphates, dust water and rubber and are inhaled. Once inhaled, these particles can affect the heart and lungs and cause serious health effects.
The NEA has called on the authorities to urgently protect the health of the people in Serbia, as well as the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which guarantees citizens the right to clean air.
According to the measurements taken during the first 133 days in 2021, the PM10 values in Novi Pazar and Valjevo exceeded the prescribed value for 84 days, in Popovac for 61 days, in Kosjerić for 54 days, in Niš for 51 days, in Obrenovac for 47 days and in Smederevo for 47 days.
“The situation in Bor, with high concentrations of sulphur dioxide, is particularly worrying. The PM10 limits have been exceeded multiple times in the last ten days and the air in Bor is now qualified as ‘dangerous for human health’. Still, the relevant institutions and authorities are not reacting,” the NEA press release reads.
(Nova ekonomija, 13.05.2021)
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