Pollution in Bucharest reached alarming levels on Saturday night, similar to the ones in Sydney

The network of measuring the air quality in Bucharest has recorded concerning levels on Saturday night, exceeding by almost 700 times the accepted level for dust pollution. According to Octavian Berceanu, general councilman within Bucharest Municipality, overruns ranging from 200 to 700 times were reported across all 16 stations that measure the air quality in the Romanian Capital.

The councilman told Digi24 that the growing pollution levels in Bucharest on Saturday night were similar to the ones currently reported in the Australian Capital Sydney due to the raging bushfires. Berceanu explained that there is no small local polluter at stake, but there are actually several big polluters.

The councilman further said that, to have these levels of pollution comparable to Sydney, there should have been a big fire in every district in Bucharest, like the recent one on Soseaua Fundeni.

“We cannot talk about a small local polluter here, but about more big polluters, there could be the industrial polluters, the landfills, etc. The weather has also facilitated this pollution. The cold wave coming from Dambovita river during the night has somehow blocked a warmer wave accumulated during the day and the pollution particles have bee stuck in the atmosphere”, Octavian Berceanu explained.

He warned that the pollution has devastating effects mainly on children, as they don’t have their immune system developed yet. “These particles reach to the blood, through lungs and lay down on vital organs. In children’s case, that means major disruptions of the internal organs, they cannot develop anymore, the brain stops developing and chronic diseases appear at early ages“, the councilman said.