Kosovar families living near power plants suffer everyday consequences of pollution
By Brandon James Hoelle
It's just an ordinary day for Shehri Idrizaj as she takes her children's shirts and pants from the clothesline, pats the dust out of each one, then folds and places them into a basket.
As she walks across the backyard towards her house, Shehri passes a bed of yellow and red flowers, stopping briefly to check on the vegetable garden nearby. The makeshift plastic cover of the garden, like the garments just removed from the clothesline, is layered with thick, red dust.
"It's obvious that there is more to clean and take care of," says Shehri, whose five children range from 15 to 30 years old. "When we see smoke coming from the plant, we know to clean soon."
"We live a normal life here," said Shehri's son, Faton Idrizaj. "You do notice the dust though. If it's a windy day and you have clothes out to dry, they get red because of all the dust. You can see the dust on your clothes. It falls in chunks like cigarette ash."
Breathtaking numbers
Chronic exposure to such dust particles contributes to the risk of developing lung cancer and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo/a recently measured the level of airborne particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). In only three months, the levels of emissions exceeded by 18 times the amount considered safe.
Studies from the WHO show that reduced lung function growth is linked to NO2 concentrations measured at cities in Europe and North America.
Kosovo (as defined by UNSSR 1244) produces 98 percent of its electricity from lignite coal, known for its high concentration of ash, according to the IKS report. The coal comes from the Mirash and Bardh mines near Obiliq. Although the two existing mines will likely be depleted in 2012, work on a third mine has begun. It is in Sibovci and will be operating by 2010, according to Viktor Buzhala, acting communications director for KEK.
The current mines produce about 8 million tonnes per year, but production will increase to nearly 10 million tons in 2012, according to Buzhala.
Some ash from the burning coal at the plants escapes from the smokestacks, along with polluting gases. Over the past 50 years, about four tonnes of the ash has been deposited on homes and farmlands near the plants, Buzhala says.
KEK plants, when operating at full capacity, produce 74 times the amount of emissions allowed by European standards, according to the IKS report, with the power stations and adjacent lignite mines being the countries biggest contaminators of air.
The WHO warned in a 1992 report that waste disposal problems and air pollution was making Kosovo (as defined by UNSSR 1244) one of the most polluted places in Europe.
In the 17 years since that report was released, conditions have worsened, despite follow-up reports and warnings from health organisations and government agencies.
'No one is doing anything'
For the Idrizaj family, lack of public concern is a contributing factor for environmental degradation in Kosovo (as defined by UNSSR 1244).
"We live here," says Shehri, wiping a layer of dust from the edge of the coffee table. "We cannot go anywhere else. Power plants are necessary, but no one is doing anything to stop the pollution."
"You see garbage everywhere," adds Edoha Idrizaj, Shehri's 27 year-old daughter as she peers out of the front window of her house. "In the streets and yards ... being thrown from cars. People just think, 'It's not mine, I don't care'. This needs to change."
Turning instead to admire the view of the family garden, Edoha continues with a story of her diagnosed illness. After noticing a series of growing rashes and "irritable" bruises slowly covering her body last year, she went to a hospital in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
"At first, they said it was a bowel disease", Edoha said. "I would scratch, scratch, scratch. Then they said it was allergies, maybe the water. When I told them where I lived, they said it was probably because of the pollution - the dust."
Sitting comfortably in her family home, it's not obvious that Edoha suffers occasionally from nausea, dizziness and headaches, all of which she attributes to her family's proximity to the pollution.
"Maybe you cannot find it in one day, but after years, some people react. For some, it's not a problem. For others, it can be very bad," Edoha said.
Neither the 2009 IKS report nor KEK officials deny that pollution from the power plants is a health factor for those living nearby.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most prevalent gases emitted from the Kosovo/a 'A' facility and is bad for health for "a lot of reasons", according to Buzhala.
Picking up the slack
An environmental activist, Faton Idrizaj has worked hard in the past to maintain his neighbourhood, and says that the general public does not acknowledge the importance of maintaining a clean environment.
"The garbage in our streets, the pollution in the air - it's a black spot of our culture. If you are well-enough educated, you should not be doing these things. It's like spitting on your own plate of food."
Faton and his friends once took the initiative to clean the yard around an elementary school.
"We were satisfied, it was finally clean," Faton said. "The next day, it was covered with garbage again. This all reflects how [current] educational priorities and mentalities need to change."
Adelina Berisha is another such activist working to improve ecological conditions, in Prishtina and Kosovo (as defined by UNSSR 1244) in general, but insists on keeping reining in her ambitions for the time being.
"We have to be practical. It's not a solution to go out once a month and clean the city. Then the municipality may stop doing their job if they think, 'Oh, these people will work for free,'" says Berisha.
An 'obvious' problem
Back at the Idrizaj home, Shehri, shrugging dust from her shoulder, claims that it is up to the government to improve the environment in her city. "It's just not good to live in the middle of all this pollution. It's an obvious problem. In other countries, places like this would be shut down," she says.
The Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, Zymer Mrasori, has outlined some new plans for environmental education. One such programme that began in April involves ecological lectures to students in grades five to 12 "for the purpose of making the environment top priority in the future."
"There are very, very strong health concerns," Mrasori says while glancing out of his small office window onto the litter-strewn streets of Prishtina. He adds that the people of Obiliq suffer from "cancer, asthma, bronchitis."
"They must move," Mrasori said. "We must find a new place for these people. They just cannot live in this area. But the people are not placed [there]. They can choose."
The Idrizaj family has been coping with the pollution, dust, and allergens for 25 years since Shehri's husband was offered a job as police station commander. Unless the government can find a way to help the people of Obiliq, there is little that the Idrizaj family will be able to do.
"If you have money, you can change where you live," Shehri said. "If not, you can change nothing."
However, neither the federal environmental protection department nor the power company are offering to help move families who live near the plants, despite agreeing that the area is too polluted.
KEK officials also confirmed that the amount of ash in the air will increase when the new mine is opened in 2010.
