Local authorities have to remove about 11,000 cu. m of foliage

This autumn the responsible services from the Chisinau City Hall have gathered about 8,600 cu. m of foliage from the city’s streets. Head of general dwelling-communal and administration Division, Mihai Solcan, stated Monday November 13 during the City Hall’s meeting that, according to the past years experience, the municipality is to gather 20.000 cu. m of foliage in all. Interim mayor Vasile Ursu told earlier Info-Prim Neo that last year, because of insufficient financial resources, the specialized services did not manage to remove the foliage from the entire city’s territory until the snowfall. Due to that, the sanitation and foliage removal works continued in spring, when the necessary funds were transferred from the Ecologic Fund. This year, the mayor says these problems should not occur, due to one million already allotted for the territory’s sanitation. The municipality spends each autumn up to 2 mln lei for transporting the fallen leaves. This year local authorities have also waited for money from the Ecologic Fund, provided some promises in this regard made by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. As in the previous years, the municipality prohibited the foliage burning, and local authorities plead in favor of applying more drastic measures to those who are found guilty, this phenomenon goes on. The State Hydrometeorological Service has recently launched information by which it warns that the foliage burning is a danger for the environment and people’s health. According to the experts, on the days with humid air and fog, micro particles of fume interact with the water vapors, forming the oxidizing smog, which is very injurious to breathing organs. A grave consequence of the incomplete foliage burning consists in the fact that the cellulose forms polycyclic combinations that are part of the persistent organic pollutants (POP). Benzopyrene, which can cause cancer, is the most serious danger.