Gasoline Smell Haunts Ufa Nights for Third Day

City residents have complained of an unbearable smell for the third straight night — it smells of hydrogen sulfide as usual. But there is something new.

“For several days now in Ufa, it has smelled of gasoline in the Zelenaya Roshcha district — impossible to sleep. It smells sometimes of hydrogen sulfide, sometimes of something else. What is happening is unclear, you might as well live outside the city,” complains a reader of UFA1.RU.

This is not the only complaint — sensitive citizens have also voiced concerns on the regional head’s page.

“Why every evening in Chernikovka is it simply unbearable with emissions? When will it end? Will someone take action?” Lien Chan is outraged, and receives a long response from the agency, meaning: everything is within normal limits.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources (Minprirody), a regime of adverse meteorological conditions (AMC) is in effect in the city. This occurs due to weak winds, temperature inversion, and related factors, when pollutants accumulate in the atmosphere. In such cases, city factories must reduce their emissions of harmful substances into the air.

“City enterprises receive forecasts of adverse meteorological conditions (AMC) from Bashgidromet (the Bashkir Hydrometeorological Center). Upon receiving relevant warnings, industrial facilities are obliged to switch production processes to reduced operating modes and reduce emissions by a set percentage. Full compliance by enterprises with the requirements to reduce emissions during periods of AMC does not guarantee immediate dispersion of impurities. Accumulated pollutants remain in the air until the meteorological situation changes,” notes Anton Gladyshev, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Bashkortostan.

In other words, the odors arose due to the wind rose. And the situation will improve when it becomes favorable for Ufa residents.