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Air quality monitoring in the Donetsk region

April 19, 2021

Did you know that in the Donetsk region there is a state system that monitors the atmospheric air 24/7? According to the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Ecological Problems (USRIEP), the state of the environment is monitored by stationary posts and analytical laboratories of three subjects of the regional monitoring system:

• Donetsk Regional Center for Hydrometeorology (DRCH);  It monitors the state of the air with two analytical laboratories and a stationary network of 11 posts (5 in Mariupol, 4 in Kramatorsk, and 2 in Slovyansk). The stationary post for Kramatorsk near the village of Yasnohirka is not working and needs to be restored. The following indicators are measured: dust, levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, phenol, ammonia, formaldehyde, heavy metals.

• State enterprise "Donetsk Regional Laboratory Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine". Monitors the atmospheric air (content of harmful substances) in the Donetsk region in places of residence and recreation of the population and in the natural areas of resorts at 5 stationary posts. The following parameters are measured there: dust, levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, phenol, soot, formaldehyde, lead, cadmium, zinc, cobalt, manganese, copper, chromium, iron, benz (a) siren.

• Communal enterprise "Directorate of capital construction of administrative and residential buildings'' of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. Includes 7 observation points in Kramatorsk, Mariupol (2), Mykolayivka, Bakhmut, Kurakhove, Novoluhanske, where the carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ozone, aerosol particles, phenol, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, toluene, toluene and toluene levels are measured. Monitoring of the impact on the state of atmospheric air of industrial emissions of 26 enterprises is carried out by the 50 automated indicator observation points in 10 cities: Kramatorsk, Mariupol, Kurakhovo, Mykolayivka, Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovska, Volnovakha, Bakhmut, Novoluhanske, Soledar, Mykolayiv. 

Monitoring and the collection of information on the air quality is not carried out according to European standards, as it should have been according to the commitments made by Ukraine in the field of emission control. As of today, such data do not allow specialists to get a complete picture of the risks associated with air pollution.

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• Environmental monitoring on both sides of the contact line in Donbas: a chance to prevent an environmental catastrophe
• Dialogues as a way to solve environmental problems