National Environmental Issues
- Air Pollution. The air pollution has increased as a serious problem in urban centers during the last years. The major sources of air pollution are energy and construction materials sectors, mining and processing industries, households using coal, and transport. Air quality deterioration is related to more extensive use of coal in combined heat power plants instead of natural gas, using low-grade fuels in households, and growing vehicle fleet that involves many old, poorly maintained vehicles.
- Water pollution. The major sources of water pollution are industrial wastewater, wastewater from agriculture, household wastewater, landfill leachate, and mine drainage. Municipal wastewater collection systems collect only about 70% of all municipal wastewater. Only 20% of the total volume of wastewater are discharged into wastewater treatment plants. Another problem is low capacity of surface water monitoring network that substantially degraded during the last 20–25 years.
- Degradation of Mountain Ecosystems. Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country with 90% of its area located at altitudes of above 1,500 meters. Large-scale technological pressure on fragile mountain ecosystems by mining and infrastructure projects, and the agricultural sector served to disturb the balance and to accelerate of a number of natural hazards.
- Solid Waste Management
- Industrial waste. Management of industrial waste is an issue in Kyrgyzstan. Some 92 mining sites that contain 250 million cubic meters of toxic and radioactive waste are located in Kyrgyzstan. From 1999 to 2007, the area occupied by these sites has increased from 189.3 hectares to 381 hectares.
- Municipal Solid Waste. Management of household waste do not comply with sanitary and environmental requirements, there is no adequate waste utilization. For example, Bishkek municipal landfill designed for 3.3 million cubic meters presently contains 24 million cubic meters of household waste.
- Agricultural Waste. Agricultural waste is not managed in a proper way. Specifically, it relates to waste of large-scale farms.
- Natural and Man-made Hazards. The area of Kyrgyzstan is a subject of more than 20 natural hazards including earthquake, landslide, avalanches, flooding, mudflow, rock slides, etc. that pose a threat to people's health,and cause damage to property.
Read more about this topic: Environmental Issues In Kyrgyzstan
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