In recent years, the capital of Kyrgyzstan from time to time tops global rankings of air pollution. The authorities admit the issue, yet can do nothing about it. Because of constant smog and burning smell in winter, Bishkek residents call their city ironically “Yshkek”.
The word “ysh” is translated from Kyrgyz as soot. Because most of residents of the private sector of Bishkek and the surroundings heat their houses in winter with coal and wastes, the air in the city is full of smoke. This is because not all districts of the city and the suburbs are gas-fired, on the one hand, and because the monthly bill for gas heating can reach a monthly wage – about 15 thousand som (nearly 200 dollars), on the other hand.
Coal is a topic for another discussion. Bishkek sells quality coal that is delivered from Naryn region, and various mines of neighbouring Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan coal is considered to be better, yet more expensive. Local coal is cheaper, but, according to experts, it emits more harmful substances than the imported one.
The bulldozer is loading the coal into the car trailer of a buyer at one of coal depots in Bishkek on January 11.
However, not all people can afford heating their houses with coal. Therefore, they often use textile wastes, tyres, and other things suitable for incineration.
On this photo, Oleg residing at Novopokrovka village in the suburbs of Bishkek is putting some coal into a bucket from the storage to heat his house at one of chilly evenings.
The only power station of Bishkek that generates not only heat energy but also electricity is blamed for city air pollution. The contribution of the power station to air quality worsening is being disputed now. According to one of the opinions, the ecological situation in the city began to get worse after the power station was modernised in 2017 – back then the station started using low-energy coal from Kyrgyzstan.
However, the management of the power station denies it – according to the deputy chair of the National Energy Holding Askhat Berdiev, the power station has quality filters and its contribution to air pollution in Bishkek does not exceed 15 per cent. This is partially confirmed by the MoveGreen ecologists’ opinion – according to it, the power station does pollute the air in Bishkek, but not as much as heating in private housing sector.
Some ecologists and architects believe one of the factors contributing to air pollution in Bishkek is building of high-rise buildings in the southern part of Bishkek ignoring the wind rose. Therefore, the city that is located in the basin has more problems with ventilation. In this heating season, the authorities have shown more concern for pure air and even held a few sessions at the governmental level. Currently, the shift from coal- to gas-fired power generation and gasification programme is considered one of the options to solve the problem in Bishkek. In this case, the services of the power station will get more expensive and the citizens took this offer without enthusiasm.
This is Toktonaliev Street in the southern part of Bishkek. It used to look otherwise. In 2017, despite the protests of eco-activists and local residents, municipal services cut over 100 trees to expand the roadway. At the same time, many trees were removed from few other streets in the central part of the city because of reconditioning of roads.
Responsible citizens caring for their and their relatives’ health look for various ways to minimise the impact of this problem. For example, air purifiers are now in great demand, which is steadily growing.
The individuals who started using such air purifiers tell and show indignantly in social media that air is dirty not only outside but also inside houses and office premises. This is a dirty filter of the air purifier at one of the offices in the centre of Bishkek.
Old cars overwhelming Bishkek and whole Kyrgyzstan that use low quality fuel and have poorly working or non-functioning filter systems are one of the main reasons of polluted city air.
Therefore, the demand for facemasks has increased in the city. This is Timur, a resident of Bishkek. Unlike citizens of many other cities, the residents of Bishkek had a habit to wear facemasks before the coronavirus pandemic.
This is how ‘Yshkek’ looks like from the foothill in the suburbs of the capital. The photo was taken on January 7.
This photo report has been produced under IWPR «Giving Voice, Driving Change — from the Borderland to the Steppes Project».