The environmentally responsible Municipality of Botevgrad has integrated modern solution for air quality and noise pollution monitoring

The municipality of Botevgrad is a medium-sized municipality with a population of 35,000 people in western Bulgaria and is one of the constituent municipalities of the Sofia region.

Although there are no tendentious exceedances of atmospheric air quality standards, it is possible to distinguish pollution typical for most municipalities from the types of production – objects in industrial zones, transport and energy – related to the production of thermal energy. In addition, however, the municipality is subject to the premise of temperature inversions, specific to areas with relief features of hollows and valleys around rivers, which leads to the retention of air pollutants in the ground layer of the atmosphere. This phenomenon is also reinforced by domestic heating with wood and can be a serious problem during a prolonged period of no wind.

In the polls conducted to formulate the strategic framework of the plan for the integrated development of Botevgrad Municipality, the reduction of air pollution levels was found to be “very important” as a priority measure. For this reason and the desire of the municipality to be transparent and responsible to citizens, as well as to acquire a complete toolkit for monitoring environmental parameters and monitoring regulatory compliance, Botevgrad Municipality integrated a Senstate Technologies solution. The solution consists of air quality monitoring stations at two points in the municipality, as well as one noise pollution monitoring station in the central part of the city.

The devices are of the highest class and measure in real time air quality parameters such as PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, concentrations of CO, SO2, NO2, O3 gases in the air, as well as meteorological indicators such as temperature, pressure and humidity. In addition, the devices also calculate the air quality index according to an established methodology. In addition to the air quality monitoring systems, the Municipality also operates a background noise monitoring device that monitors compliance with Bulgarian regulations.

Residents of the Municipality of Botevgrad can monitor the readings of the devices in real time from the Senstate online application, as well as from the municipality’s website.