YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, ARMENPRESS. The air pollution in Yerevan and other cities in Armenia reached concerning levels, the Deputy Minister of Environment Gayane Gabrielyan said at a news conference.

“In Yerevan, we have both functioning mines and active construction works,” she said. “Our biggest problem is the dust and the bad situation with air pollution. You don’t have to install equipment to understand the situation. People open up their windows and a short time later their home gets dirty, the cars get dirty faster and so on. These are simple, household indicators. One of the reasons is the construction boom in Yerevan. On one hand its good, investments and jobs, but on the other hand the construction businesses aren’t maintaining the requirements. We don’t need any new laws or changes. The current law envisages the necessary requirements and norms, but the construction workers are ignoring them,” Gabrielyan said.

Gabrielyan said it is the inspection agency’s job to monitor the situation, but they in turn need huge resources to supervise everyone. She said that the construction businesses themselves must maintain the requirements.

The air pollution levels are high in Gyumri and Vanadzor as well. Overall, Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor now have the worst air pollution in the entire country, already categorized in the “red zone”.

The main reasons are construction, mining and the open burning of landfills.  “The open burning of landfills, waste is inadmissible. This is a serious hazard for health. We have a lot of work to do in raising awareness here,” she said.