What are we breathing? Oskemen residents can now access real-time air quality data
Tengrinews.kz – A new automated air quality monitoring system with 25 stations is now operating in East Kazakhstan Region. Residents can finally access real-time air pollution data.
During autumn and winter, Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk) regularly finds itself blanketed in smog. Windless days become more frequent, while emissions from factories and vehicles are compounded by smoke from household heating stoves.
Fog also becomes common during the colder months because the Irtysh and Ulba rivers do not freeze over. According to the regional Ecology Department, fog prevents harmful pollutants from dispersing.
Residents experience the effects firsthand. Social media fills with complaints about feeling unwell after spending time outdoors, throat irritation and other unpleasant symptoms.
Why was air quality data previously unavailable
Air quality in Oskemen has traditionally been monitored by Kazhydromet, which operates nine stationary monitoring stations across the entire city.
These stations measure concentrations of major pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and other harmful substances. However, air samples are collected only several times a day.
Last year, an alternative monitoring system was introduced, with 25 modern stations installed throughout the city at a cost of nearly half a billion tenge.
Their main advantage is the ability to monitor air quality in real time. Yet for a long time, the data collected by this expensive equipment remained inaccessible to the public.
Independent environmentalist and community activist Daulet Assanov previously raised concerns about the lack of transparency.
"According to Kazhydromet, the air in our city is quite clean. Even sulfur dioxide, which has become something of our city's trademark, has not exceeded the average daily maximum permissible concentration (MPC) in recent years. And particulate matter, which poses the greatest health risks, shows levels you would expect at a resort. Modern monitoring stations have been installed evenly across the city, so data is now available for almost every district. But the Digitalization Department stubbornly refuses to release the monitoring results. They are the only ones who can see what is happening with the air and how serious the situation really is," Assanov said earlier.
According to the environmentalist, he submitted an inquiry to the Digitalization Department in the spring and was told that the system was still being configured.
When he contacted the department again in August, officials invited him to suggest how the information should be presented to the public and how much data should be made available.
"What matters is having access to raw data. You should be able to open a website and see what is happening in your neighborhood right now, not two or three hours ago or yesterday," he said.
Assanov had been prepared to take legal action to secure public access to the monitoring results. However, that ultimately proved unnecessary.
Yelena Berezinskaya-Abilova, head of the Oskemen Tynysy Environmental Protection Bureau, announced that data from the automated monitoring system had finally become publicly available through AirKZ, an application developed by Kazhydromet.
Tengrinews.kz tested the application and confirmed that it works.
The app displays current concentrations of harmful substances, charts showing changes over the past 24 hours, and how many times pollutant levels exceed the maximum permissible concentration.
Pollution levels are color-coded, with red indicating very high concentrations.
Screenshot from the AirKZ application.
For example, on November 6, the map showing all monitoring stations indicated elevated sulfur dioxide levels in some outlying districts of Oskemen during the first half of the day.
By the evening, however, the situation had improved considerably. Only green and yellow circles remained on the map, indicating low and elevated pollution levels, respectively.
In neighborhoods generally considered environmentally clean, only ozone concentrations were elevated as of 3 p.m.
Screenshot from the AirKZ application
A local resident named Vladimir believes every person in Oskemen should have the application.
"I think this app is absolutely essential for every resident. Remember the incident with the toxic cloud? I saw a social media post saying the air had become so thick you could almost feel it. People who found themselves inside that cloud complained that they could barely breathe. I'm glad I saw the post! We live on the boulevard, so I called my children and told them not to go outside for the time being," he said.
According to official information, hydrogen chloride concentrations in the area affected by the cloud exceeded the maximum permissible level by 9.9 times.
On November 6, haze was observed only in the morning. Photo: Tengrinews.kz.
In January 2025, former Kazakh Senate deputy Olga Bulavkina proposed considering compensation for Oskemen residents whose health had been affected by air pollution.
However, the city's housing and utilities department gave a clear response at the time.
"The issue of compensating residents for health damage associated with air pollution is not currently under consideration. Instead, the main focus is on preventive measures aimed at reducing pollution levels and improving the city's environmental conditions," the department stated.
Meanwhile, the East Kazakhstan Ecology Department previously announced that industrial enterprises would face stricter requirements in 2026 regarding compliance with established emission limits and environmental monitoring.
Companies that violate these requirements may face fines and mandatory orders to address the violations.