site.btaDimitrovgrad Air Contaminated with Sulfur Dioxide for Brief Time on Sunday

The air in Dimitrovgrad, Southern Bulgaria,  was contaminated with sulfur dioxide for a short period on Sunday. This happened despite the Maritsa 3 Thermal Power Plant (TPP) capacity not functioning, the energy company said on Monday, citing data from the Environmental Executive Agency.

The Regional Environment and Water Inspectorate (RIEW) in Haskovo confirmed the exceedance of the average hourly norm at 10 am on September 4, and the values were 417 micrograms per cubic metre against a norm of 350 micrograms. Elevated levels of the gas, but below the maximum permissible concentration, were also present one hour before and two hours after. The eco-inspection also specified that an inspection of the Maritsa 3 TPP was immediately carried out, and it indeed found that the installations were not functioning. RIEW-Haskovo speculated that the cause was probably transfer of air masses from a neighbouring region.

"We demand that the control body of RIOSV-Haskovo inform the public who exactly will bear responsibility for the registered excess, which is the 11th in a row for this year," wrote the chief legal officer of the company, Yulian Semerdzhiev, in a letter to the media.

The air pollution of Dimitrovgrad with sulfur dioxide and its cause has been the subject of a long-standing public and expert debate.