People are reporting that they feel severely unwell. Online, they are posting photos and videos showing the city shrouded in smog.
According to Ratel.kz, the situation is being worsened by the windless weather that has persisted in Ust-Kamenogorsk for several days.
"My throat is sore, it's hard to breathe, my head is splitting—same as always. We're constantly told that emissions are decreasing every year, but the picture doesn't change; living through days of NMC (unfavourable meteorological conditions) is very difficult here," says local resident Didar Safin.
According to residents, harmful substances sometimes seep into apartments as well.
"All the windows at home are shut, which helps, but if the windless weather lasts a long time, you can't even breathe indoors. They promised the government would consider a new diagnosis in our clinics—throat burn—but nothing has moved forward; apparently, they don't give us that and put it down to ARVI, even though the symptoms are completely different," says city resident Margarita Simonova.
Residents blame industrial enterprises and the city's central heating plant for the environmental problems. The authorities, however, believe that the private sector and motor vehicles are the biggest polluters of the air.
For his part, the Akim of the East Kazakhstan Region Yermek Kosherbayev writes that he shares the residents' concerns. According to him, measurements taken by specialists showed that the maximum permissible concentration of hydrogen chloride in the city had been exceeded.
"I have ordered an inspection of existing enterprises that emit pollutants into the atmosphere. It is worth noting that the city's location in a basin unfortunately increases the number of days with NMC. The private sector, which uses stove heating, also contributes to the unfavourable meteorological conditions. According to Kazhydromet, windless weather has been consistently observed in the city in October and November, which also affects the meteorological situation. For our part, we will thoroughly investigate what caused the thick smog in the area of Gogol and Metallurgov streets, and those responsible will be held accountable under current legislation," stated the Akim.
At the same time, Kosherbayev instructed local ecologists to check whether small boiler houses and enterprises are complying with environmental standards.
"In the near future, we will fund the installation of additional monitoring stations to add to the 10 existing ones, which will provide a more objective picture. At the moment, due to the second-degree NMC, specialists from the Department of Ecology for the East Kazakhstan Region have left to carry out instrumental measurements to determine the quality of the atmospheric air. The issue is under my daily control," the statement reads.
It has become known that on 25 November, the Department of Ecology for the East Kazakhstan Region checked the atmospheric air quality in various districts of the city; however, it did not detect any exceedances of the maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) of pollutants in the air.
"It should be noted that the current situation is complicated by the unfavourable meteorological conditions that have been observed in the city since 23 November and are forecast to persist until 26 November. Such weather conditions hinder the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere," the agency reported.
At the same time, the daily bulletin on the state of the air basin in Ust-Kamenogorsk, published by Kazhydromet, indicates an exceedance of hydrogen sulphide by 2 times the MPC.