Air pollution in Serbia has been a problem for decades
, NewsWhat are the causes of pollution?
“All over Serbia, there have been similar causes of air pollution for decades, especially in winter – fossil fuel furnaces, traffic and industry located in cities like Smederevo and Bor,” meteorologist Milenko Jovanovic, former head of the Air Quality Agency, told the BBC in Serbian.
Jovanovic also explained on Twitter why the pollution in the previous days was at a noticeably high level in the whole of Serbia – so much so that the air was cloudy.
“The dark cloud of pollutants that covered Belgrade for days is a consequence of several factors – ground-level anticyclone, absence of air flow, increased humidity and Saharan sand clouds that brought and deposited suspended particles to Serbia across Central Europe,” Jovanovic said. Twitter user.
The anticyclone is a field of elevated air pressure and implies stable weather, without wind and precipitation.
“Saharan sand is not deadly, nor is it a constant cause of air pollution, I just gave a better diagnosis of the condition,” he explains to the BBC.
Air quality is undeniably important because we all depend on it.
“Without oxygen, that is, air, we cannot spend more than five to ten minutes.
“That’s why our citizens are concerned and monitor air quality,” Goran Trivan, the former environment minister, told the BBC.
Air pollution is only a part of the wider environmental problems that Serbia has, due to 70 years of industry and pollution.
“In Serbia, practically all parts of the environment are significantly endangered, there is no dilemma.
“And there is a direct connection between the environment, that is, air quality and human health – the more polluted you live, the weaker your immunity is and the more susceptible you are to diseases and viruses,” Trivan notes.
How to protect ourselves?
There are several sites where people can monitor air pollution in Belgrade, the site of the City Institute for Public Health Beoeko, for the area of Serbia, the site of the Environmental Protection Agency and, among others, Aikuer, which collects data from around the world. The data on the Beoeko website are updated every hour and the air quality index is calculated on the basis of them.
“It is a simplification of the whole system, and each of us can check what the air is like via a mobile phone or computer, and in accordance with that, we will receive short simple health recommendations,” explains Andrej Sostaric from the City Institute for Public Health.
There are five categories of air pollution on that site – excellent, good, acceptable, polluted and heavily polluted.
“If someone has planned jogging or walking and if he sees that the air is polluted, he can, based on the recommendations, consider what is best for him and thus protect himself,” adds Sostaric.
He warns that blue skies and sunny weather do not necessarily mean that the air is not polluted.
“Don’t be misled, it can be sunny and the pollution can be great.
“We do not measure visibility, but the presence of pollutants in the air that are invisible to the naked eye, so it is good to check that,” said Sostaric, a doctor of chemical sciences.
Source: danas.rs
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