By Gevorg Tosunyan
The air quality in Yerevan has reached an alarming level. The municipality’s 160 monitoring stations show that the air becomes increasingly unhealthy throughout the day.
In Yerevan, there are only one or two areas where breathing the air doesn’t pose a health risk, and that’s only in the early morning when the city has yet to awaken. How will this problem finally be resolved?
Maxim Gasparyan, a resident of Vedi town, located 50 km from Yerevan, says that visiting the capital is the most challenging for him. “I’ve had two heart surgeries. When I’m in Yerevan, it’s harder for me to breathe. I cough more frequently than I do in Vedi, for example. I even get headaches,” he said.
The Yerevan Municipality’s 160 air monitoring stations, which display dust pollution levels, regularly change color. In the early morning, orange predominates, indicating poor air quality for sensitive groups. By noon and afterward, they turn red—unhealthy air—and some turn purple, indicating very unhealthy conditions. These devices are located near construction sites. The Ministry of Environment also has 45 mobile and five stationary observation stations in the capital for atmospheric air quality monitoring. The worst indicators come from central Khanjyan Street and the Nor Nork district.
“In January, Yerevan’s air pollution was recorded daily. Our monitoring station registers the highest pollution in the Central Administrative District. The dust concentration is observed to exceed the limit almost daily,” says Gohar Hakobyan from the Ministry of Environment’s atmospheric air quality monitoring service.
Mass construction in various Yerevan neighborhoods and suburban areas is one of the main factors contributing to air pollution.
There are several solutions to the problem. The first is construction oversight. There are written rules, but supervision is lacking. Yerevan Municipality has significantly increased air quality monitoring devices in the last six months: while there were only 30 as of July 1, 2024, now there are 160. On the other hand, developers rarely install dust collection nets and don’t implement other preventive measures. Municipal supervision is inadequate, and fines are low. Developers are fined only about 200-250 dollars for violations.
Another cause of Yerevan’s polluted air is the lack of green spaces.
The large gardens surrounding Yerevan—the Dalma, Nork, Gai Avenue, and Saralanj areas—are not sufficiently forested. The only exceptions are the Tsitsernakaberd and Victory Park areas, which have also experienced unexplained construction at the expense of green spaces over the years.
“Yerevan seems to be in a pit, surrounded by adjacent slopes. In other words, Yerevan needs to be embraced by green shores, called urban forests,” says biologist Hasmik Khurshudyan.
Another cause of air pollution is the increasing number of automobiles. Although the number of electric vehicles has significantly increased, it’s also common practice in Armenia to remove catalytic converters – exhaust gas filters – from gasoline vehicles and sell them for their precious material, palladium.
In early February, Mayor Tigran Avinyan also voiced this concern: “We can restrict polluting vehicles. Many such cars have had their catalytic converters removed and are driving throughout the city.”
“On days when the air is poor, sensitive groups must wear masks. It’s also necessary to avoid cycling or exercising in open spaces. One should spend less time on the street and keep windows closed,” says Yerevan City Council member Kristina Vardanyan.
The Yerevan Municipality promises to present an air quality improvement program soon and will propose legislative changes that could reduce the level of anthropogenic pollution.
