Like other countries in the Soviet sphere of influence, Bulgaria strongly emphasized heavy industry and intensive agriculture but did not mitigate the environmental consequences of such a policy.
Although environmental awareness improved in the post-communist era, the state’s lack of administrative strength and fears of unemployment prevented the curtailment of many dangerous practices.
Among them were air pollution from industrial emissions; the inability to filter effluents into rivers, leading to concentrations of untreated sewage, heavy metals, and detergents; severely depleted natural forest cover; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; and soil contamination by heavy metals resulting from improper industrial waste disposal.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, a rapid increase in motor vehicles using leaded fuel exacerbated urban air pollution.
The prospect of membership in the European Union (EU) is expected to raise Bulgaria’s environmental standards.