Kazakistan
KAZAKHSTAN-REGION-AIR-POLLUTION
Karaganda suffers a decade of severe air pollution - studyThe industrial city of Karaganda has endured high and very high levels of air pollution for the past ten years, a report from the Project Office for Climate Change and Green Energy for Central Asia revealed Tuesday."More than half a million residents are breathing air contaminated with particulate matter, hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals," the report said.Pollution levels have intensified recently, with the air quality index rated "very high" in both 2023 and 2024 after being consistently "high" since 2015. The city recorded more than 46,000 instances where harmful substances exceeded safe concentration levels in 2024, surpassing the count in Kazakhstan's largest metropolis, Almaty, by 14,000."Main pollution sources include thermal power plants, coal mining enterprises and the private sector, with about 25,000 homes using solid fuel stoves that burn approximately 290,000 tons of coal per heating season," according to the report.Karaganda is the country's fifth-largest city and a major industrial center. (ICE ALMATY)
Fonte notizia: INTERFAX