Christmas in Sarajevo under the smog

Dobrinja is a neighborhood close to the airport. It is outside the city, but the pollution is very heavy here as well.  Pollution facilitates the increase of fog. Water has an easy way to condensate on the fine particles. The weather is stable from the 3rd of December in Sarajevo, no rain, no wind, no snow.

This is an unusual condition for winter and, after 22 days of stagnant air, the pollution is out of control.  Every value is above of alarm limit. Lukavac, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica are now the most polluted cities in Europe.

Sarajevo International Airport has a big problem with fog and Instrumental Landing System. This means that you cannot land when the visibility is not optimal. In the last week most of the flights are deleted or they land to another city  airport because of fog.

Trucks and old cars are a big problem in Sarajevo. They contribute to increase the PM10 and the most dangerous PM2,5. It should be forbidden to use old veicles below the EURO3 standard. The police can just request people not to use them, but can not fine them.

Pomozi (pomozi.ba) is an association who distributes free masks for pollution in the center, close to holiday market. Kids, old people and every person who has any kind of disease concerning the respiratory system should not go outside and all the others can not stay outside for more than one hour.

Outdoor activities are not recommended. The problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina is also what the people burn to heat houses since coal is very popular and this doesn’t help the quality of the air.

After sunset pollution increases. These are the values of Air Quality Index (EPA scale) at 8pm on 25th of December 2015

Tuzla: 227
Lukavac: 330
Zenica: 96
Sarajevo: 159