Over the past 5 years, Bishkek has become recognizable in the world not only for its nature, culture and good people, but also for its ecology. This is evidenced not only by data from various environmental organizations, according to which air quality in the capital of the republic is deteriorating every year, but also by visible changes, such as the dense smog over the city, which can be seen with the naked eye. And it turns out that if during the Soviet Union Frunze was the greenest city, then after many years and almost 30 years of Kyrgyzstan's independence, Bishkek has become the leader among the cities of the world in the quality of its foul air.
Environmentalists admit that many factors contributed to this. First, it is due to the fact that during the cold season, residents of numerous new buildings on the outskirts of the city heat their houses with coal, which is, according to environmentalists, detrimental not only to the environment, but also to health.
In addition, there are those who heat their houses with tires and other combustible materials, which release even more smoke and soot into the environment. Specialists add enterprises and commercial facilities whose production or heating is in one way or another associated with coal heating.
Another factor which affects the appearance of impenetrable smog over the capital is related to the violation of the "wind rose".
During the planning of Frunze, now Bishkek, in the Soviet years the winds blowing through the city from the mountains on the southern side of the capital were taken into account. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and then the loss of appropriate control of the supervisory authorities over construction companies, the city began to grow without taking into account the "wind rose”. Accordingly, if there is no ventilation, the air will stand there.
Another important factor is that the number of vehicles in the city of million is equal to number of its inhabitants. This, according to ecologists, also affects the environment of the city and the air we breathe.
According to scientists, when driving, motor transport not only emits into the atmosphere exhaust fumes, but also fine particles of road surface and car tires fly into the air. It is also worth adding another issue – many vehicles in Bishkek lack of accelerant, which are responsible for cleaning the car emissions from harmful impurities.
Finally, environmentalists point to the thermal power plant in Bishkek as another source of air pollution in the capital.
However, in response to the environmentalists' claims, representatives of the power plant state that the modernized part of the combined heat and power plant has new filters that retain more than 90% of the emissions. But in fact, it turns out that this is only on two pipes, and the other parts of the plant operate in the same mode, which means that the environmentalists' claims are true.
It is worth noting that the bodies responsible for the oversight of the state environmental policy also agree with the environmentalists' assertions. For example, Bekbolot Mamatairov, the chief specialist of the Department of Environmental Policy and Strategy of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry said that the cause of air pollution in Bishkek, according to preliminary data, are factories and processing plants, the private sector, motor vehicles and a Heat and Power Plant .
Mamatairov also pointed out the problem of air pollution in Bishkek has been relevant for about 10-15 years, after the collapse of the USSR.
“But the increase in pollution has been observed in the last 3-4 years, this is due to the following factors, namely, that we do not have a supply of carbon and gas to ensure air filtration, also the quality of coal, the growth of vehicles in the capital and negative actions from the citizens," he said.
Physicians also do not stand aside and urge citizens and visitors to the capital to be vigilant, especially in the face of the spread of coronavirus infection.
Thus, chief pulmonologist of Kyrgyzstan Talant Sooronbayev says many diseases that used to be considered rare have now become almost daily occurrences. The medic points out that such diseases are asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis. The saddest thing is that there are five times more patients suffering from respiratory diseases because of the environment than the official statistics say, which is about 200,000 for the whole country.
According to various environmentalists' data, with smog over Bishkek, the amount of harmful particles in the air exceeds the maximum permissible concentration by 11 times. And this becomes the reason why Bishkek is world-leading capital in the list of countries for air pollution.
During a press conference at Kabar News Agency, Burul Dzhusurova, a sanitary doctor of state sanitary epidemiological supervision of Bishkek city confirmed the words of her colleague that lung diseases are more often aggravated because of low-quality air.
In order to tackle the problem, the Government of Kyrgyzstan has developed an action plan to improve the environmental situation in the capital, consisting of 40 points.
Bolot Kadyrbekov, the head of the Chui-Bishkek Department of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry of the Kyrgyz Republic noted that currently the work to implement the plan continues, but there are slight delays due to the epidemiological situation in the republic.
"At the moment, in order to solve the problem, all the relevant authorities need to unite and develop a project to improve air quality, which will be financed by the Kumtor gold mining company within the cooperation on environmental protection," he said.
According to him, the amount of financing will amount to KGS 1 billion 400 million.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s Statistics Committee reported that 184 enterprises of the country emit 50,000 tons of pollutants per year, 43.8% of them - in Bishkek.
This means that less than 25 tons of harmful substances are deposited in the bodies of residents and guests of Bishkek. As a consequence, this all leads to the deterioration of everyone's health without exception. Therefore, it is probably time to think about more environmentally friendly methods of heating, the use of programs to modernize and improve the efficiency of energy and water use and other possible ways to reduce the use of harmful types of energy sources.
Moreover, Kyrgyzstan has a large hydropower potential, which, if properly used and implemented, energy projects can not only return the country and its capital the title of the cleanest city in the world, but also replenish the state treasury.
Kabar News Agency
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