Oskemen: Authorities Announce Air Quality Measures

Residents of eastern Kazakhstan continue to breathe polluted air, while authorities prepare to spend millions in tenge on environmental measures. For now, residents are being advised to drink beetroot juice to mitigate the effects, Orda.kz reports.

For more than a week, Oskemen has been blanketed in haze. Environmental specialists have recorded significant exceedances of permissible pollution levels.

The air quality issue was discussed today at the regional akimat. Officials announced that concrete steps are being taken.

Regional Akim Nurymbet Saktaganov has instructed the development of an action plan to address deteriorating air quality and to promptly inform the public. Monitoring will be strengthened. A tender has been announced for a new air quality monitoring system worth 498.5 million tenge, and the contract is being finalized,
the East Kazakhstan Region akimat press service reported.

A mobile environmental laboratory worth 65.5 million tenge is also being purchased and is expected to arrive in November.

At present, ten Kazhydromet stations and industrial sensors are monitoring air quality. According to the Department of Ecology, 158,000 tons of pollutants are emitted annually in Oskemen. Industrial enterprises account for about 50,000 tons, while the remainder comes from vehicles and residential sources.

While authorities and environmentalists develop measures, residents have been advised to protect their health — spend more time outside the city or in parks, eat beets, drink beet juice, include dairy products in their diet, and use absorbents if necessary.

From the evening of October 29 to the morning of October 30, the city is once again expected to experience unfavorable weather conditions of the second degree, further worsening air quality.

Original Author: Elena Medvedeva