According to the English-language newspaper Nine O’Clock, our adopted home city of Bucharest, Romania is one of the dustiest cities in Europe. This not only makes our apartment dusty, it is a health hazard as well. Soils in and around the city have high levels of heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Restoration of green spaces (trees and grass) in and around the city would help considerably.

While I’m on the topic of pollution: according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Bucharest has no wastewater treatment facility (actually, it is a little unclear on the various EBRD pages whether there is no treatment at all or just seriously deficient treatment at present). This means that raw domestic and industrial sewage is dumped into the local rivers, which empty into the Danube River (not the blue Danube by this point) and eventually into the Black Sea.

Back in the US: be thankful for the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act!

Grace and Peace