National Environmental Agency: dust levels to improve with changing weather conditions

The increase in airborne dust particles in Georgia has been driven by the spread of desert dust masses across the country, the National Environmental Agency reported on Sunday.

Marina Arabidze, head of the Agency's Environmental Pollution Monitoring Department, stated that the situation was expected to improve as appropriate meteorological processes develop.

“The Agency continuously monitors air quality through 18 automatic stations. Over the past few days, elevated concentrations of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) have been observed across Georgia, caused by dust moving from the south and southeast. Recently, there has been no rainfall, snow, or strong wind, which has contributed to the persistence of pollution,” Arabidze said.

She added that the spread of desert dust across Georgia occurred periodically throughout the year and improvements in air quality depended on meteorological changes such as rain, snow, or wind.

In major cities, dust particle concentrations have been reported at two to three times above the permissible limits.