Air pollution - State and impacts (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Air pollutant concentrations

Most air pollutants come from industrial activities, but a significant quantity also from traffic. Industry was the most important polluter: this includes the steel industry in Zenica, thermal power plants in Kakanj, Tuzla, Ugljevik, and Gacko; cement factories in Kakanj and Tuzla; wood processing industry in Doboj and Maglaj; acetylene, chlorine, and chloric acid factory in Jajce; chemical, detergent, and fertilizer industry in Tuzla; and many more. Before the war, there were 122 industrial wastewater plants in BIH (only 40 % were operating properly). Currently none of these is working. Most industry collapsed during the war, and has not yet been restored to the pre-war levels. Therefore, pollution is much lower than before the war. An organised air quality monitoring exists in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banjaluka, Kakanj and Brcko and data on the main air poillutants are available on the Internet through the Central Data Repository of Eionet http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/.