High level of air pollution is detected in five cities of Bashkortostan - RosHydromet

In Bashkortostan, 56 percent of urban population lives in cities with high and very high level of air pollution. These data are submitted in the state report "On the environmental situation and environmental protection in the Russian Federation in 2012" on the basis of information submitted by RosHydromet (Federal Agency for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring).

Regular monitoring of air quality was conducted in five cities of Bashkortostan.

In general, the Russian regular monitoring of air quality was carried out in 248 cities. Air pollution levels in 138 cities of the country, where 57 percent of urban population lives, is characterized as high or very high. Only in nine Russian regions high and very high levels of urban air pollution is not marked.

Meanwhile Sterlitamak is included in the list of 28 Russian cities with the highest level of air pollution. According RosHydromet great content of benzo(a)pyrene and formaldehyde in the ambient air was determining for Sterlitimak. This list includes also Yekaterinburg, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Solikamsk.

As reported by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the data are presented as of January 1, 2013. The recommendations of the European Economic Commission of the United Nations (UNECE) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were used as a basis for the indicators.

According to the state report the thickness of the ozone layer decreased from 2003 to 2012 over the territory of the country and on average was 2.3 percent below the standard value. In 2012, the annual average ozone was 3.2 percent lower than the norm in all regions except Eastern Siberia, where for a year deviation from the norm was about 4 percent.

According to RosHydromet, in 2012 the average annual temperature in Russia exceeded the norm by 1.07 ◦C for 1961-1990. These observations confirm the upward trend in the average annual temperature throughout the country. Consequences of continuing changes in absolute temperatures are melting glaciers, rising sea levels, floods, droughts.

Amount of precipitation for the entire year on the whole territory of Russia was significantly higher in 2012 than regular values. There is an increase of all registered meteorological hazards from 1998 to 2012. In 2012 the highest number of hazards is recorded - 536.

Full data of the state report are available on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources RF.