BULGARIAN CASE STUDIES IN IMPROVING URBAN AIR QUALITY

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality. The fact that more cities are now improving their air quality control system is good news, so when they take action to improve air quality, they set a goal accordingly. As air quality declines, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma, increases in people who live in these cities. Ambient air pollution, which contains high concentrations of fine and fine particles, poses the highest environmental health risk, causing three million premature deaths worldwide each year. At the same time, people's awareness is rising, and air quality monitoring is being carried out in more cities. As air quality improves, global prevalence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases is declining.� Most sources of urban outdoor air pollution are wholly beyond the control of individuals, suggesting the need for action at the city level and by national and international policy makers to promote cleaner modes of transport, more efficient energy production and appropriate waste management. More than half of controlled cities located in high-income countries, and more than one-third of cities located in low- and middle-income countries reduced their air pollution levels by more than 5% within five years. The set of affordable and accessible policies includes measures such as reducing emissions from industrial chimneys, increasing the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, and prioritizing the development of rapid transit systems, increasing walking and developing bike path networks. Air quality in Bulgaria raises serious concerns: measurements show that citizens across the country breathe air that is assessed as harmful to health. For example, the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 is much higher than the values prescribed by the European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) for health protection. The concentrations of PM2.5 in the urban areas of Bulgaria were the highest of all 28 EU member states as average values for a three-year period. For PM10, Bulgaria also leads among the countries with the highest pollution with an average daily concentration of 77 �g / m3 (the EU limit value is 50 �g / m3). According to the World Health Organization, 60% of the urban population of Bulgaria is exposed to dangerous (unhealthy) levels of dust particles (PM10). Air pollution in the Republic of Bulgaria is a significant and difficult to solve environmental problem related to physiographic, social, economic and anthropological factors. Bringing the air quality in the country in line with the norms and goals set in Directive 2008/50 / EC, although difficult, is achievable. For the last 10 years our country has made significant progress in terms of controlled pollutants.