Air pollution levels, Nur Sultan - 2018-2019
No incidents of elevated or extremely elevated air pollution were recorded
| 2018 | 2019 |
| High level of pollution | High level of pollution |
Primary pollutant emissions by volume, kilotons - 2017-2019
Primary contributors to air pollution in the city in 2019 were stationary sources and vehicular transport.
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Sulfur dioxide | 28 | 28 | 37 |
| Nitrogen oxides | 14 | 12 | 13 |
| Suspended solid particulate | 11 | 11 | 10 |
| Carbon monoxide | 4,3 | 3,6 | 2,9 |
Stationary sources of air pollution in the city, aggregate - 2017-2019
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| 7 205 | 6 583 | 6 433 |
Emissions of hazardous substances from transport and stationary sources, kilotons - 2017-2019
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| 79 | 93 | 95 |
Emissions of hazardous substances from stationary sources, kilotons - 2017-2019
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| 59 | 56 | 65 |
Motor vehicles, aggregate, Nur-Sultan - 2018-2019
| 2018 | 2019 |
| 270 700 | 261 100 |
65.1% of all automobiles registered in the capital are older than 10 years.
In 2017-2019, efforts by state entities managed to reduce emissions at Astana- Energia, JSC by 6,000 tons.
In 2018, the Department of Ecology conducted an unscheduled inspection at Astana-Energia, JSC's Thermal Electric Station-1 and Thermal Electric Station-2, revealing environmental statute violations and resulting in a fine of over 160M Tenge.
As part of the “Clean Air 2018-2019” program, the Department of Ecology and the local law enforcement prosecuted drivers whose transportation emissions exceeded legal limits. In 2019, 1871 drivers were cited and in 2018, 7997 drivers.
The Bus Lane project, which allocates designated public transport lanes, has also helped reduce motor vehicle emissions.
To combat air pollution in the city, 738 Euro-5 and Euro-6 environmentally friendly buses are in service.
In 2019, the Department of Ecology filed 10 successful claims for environmental violations, resulting in fines of 159M Tenge issued.
46 electric vehicles are registered in the city, chargeable at 52 electric filling stations.
In 2020, plans including connecting the Koktal-1, Koktal-2, Zheleznodorozhny (Railway), Promyshlenny (Industry), and South-East residential neighborhoods to gas distribution networks. The residential areas of Michurino, Internatsional, and Kuygenzhar are slated to be gasified in 2021-2023.
Water pollution monitoring of the Capital's freshwater resource was conducted at 14 hydraulic locks on the Yessil River and its tributaries - the Akbulak, Sarybulak, and Nura rivers; the Nura-Yesil Canal; and the Vyacheslav Reservoir. Measurements revealed moderate levels of pollution at these locations.
Number of incidents of elevated pollution on the Sarybulak and Akbulak rivers - 2017-2019
| Year | Sarybulak | Akbulak |
| 2017 | 12 | 2 |
| 2018 | 12 | 14 |
| 2019 | 123 | 4 |
Upon revealing elevated pollution levels on the Sarybulak and Akbulak rivers in April 2019, an unscheduled inspection of the activities of Astana Tazalyk, LLP was carried out, resulting in the issuing of seven fines for violations totaling over 21M Tenge million tenge for an assessment of environmental damages valued at over 3.5M Tengе.
On January 11, 2019, an incident of excessive hydrogen fluoride pollution was recorded on the Yesil River, caused by an accident at a pipeline of the RPG discharge collector at the Astana Su Arnasy treatment plant. The company was fined 35M Tenge.
The principal source of drinking water in the capital is the Vyacheslav Reservoir. To provide drinking water to city suburban residents, an 11-kilometer water pipeline is under construction
Groundwater provides a secondary source of drinking water to the city. Groundwater provides an additional source of drinking water for the capital. North of the city there at Akmola groundwater deposits in the Koyadin and Sophia tracts contain a freshwater reserve producing 20,000 m 3 daily.
Groundwater monitoring in the Akmola region and Nur-Sultan is carried out at 12 locations – nine of which monitor groundwater reserves and three of which monitor pollution levels.
Total land area, Nur-Sultan – 2019
| Category | Thousands of hectares | Percentage of total |
| Residential | 5,11 | 6,4 |
| Public Space | 3,03 | 3,4 |
| Commercial | 4,9 | 5,5 |
| Other | 67,7 | 84,7 |
In the spring and autumn of 2019, Kazhydromet monitored soils for heavy metal concentrations across a range of districts within the city.
Maximum concentrations of heavy metals revealed in soil samples of the capital, mg/kg - 2019
| Spring | Autumn | |
| Zinc (MAC 23 mg/kg) | 2,91 | 7,1 |
| Copper (MAC 3 mg/kg) | 22,62 | 19,2 |
| Chromium (MAC 6 mg/kg) | 2,66 | 17,7 |
| Lead (MAC 32 mg/kg) | 20,49 | 24,3 |
The city has about 35,000 hectares of natural and recreational areas, of which around five thousand hectares are comprised of parks, squares and boulevards.
Land slotted for seizure - 2019
| Category | 2019 |
| Privately owned plots zoned for agricultural purposes | 1 559 |
| Private plots zoned for residential construction, Land plots in private ownership intended for housing construction, subsistence farming and gardening | 57 |
| Plots zoned for permanent use | 1 201 |
| Plots zoned for temporary use | 2 122 |
The capital city lacks mineral deposits to meet its needs. To address this, the Akimat has compiled a list of subsoil users located within a 50km radius of the city.
In the capital there are 55 plots of disturbed land covering 256 hectares. In 2019, 48.2% of all disturbed lands in the city underwent reclamation.
In 2019, one illegal mining violation was recorded at the Severnaya Gryad deposit near the capital.
In the capital, bodies of water are stocked with profitable fish species. In 2018-2019, the Koyandin and Vyacheslav Reservoirs and the Yesil River were stocked. The main species of fish being stocked: carp, crucian carp, white amur, and silver carp.
The area devoted to greenspace in the capital is 14,800 hectares – space that is inhabited by hares, foxes, Corsac foxes, partridges, and pheasants.
Beginning in 2010, a project for managed breeding of hunting pheasants has been implemented in the capital; in 2018, the program released 1800 individual birds into the natural environment.
The city is home to a 45-hectare Botanical Garden; 11 parks covering an area of more than 400 hectares; 6 boulevards with an area of 52 hectares; and 104 squares with an area of just under 150 hectares.
Total land landscaped and improved in the Capital - 2018-2019
| 2018 | 2019 | |
| Total area general greenspace seedings - square meters | 17 347 400 | 19 418 900 |
| Greenspace per person, capital, square meters | 16,2 | 17 |
In the capital, Monitoring of radioactive gamma contamination of the surface layer of the atmosphere in the city was carried out revealing that the average values of the gamma background, gamma emissions and radioactive fallout in 2019 were within normal limits.
In 2019, 504 thousand tons of waste were generated in the city of Nur-Sultan, 308 thousand tons of which were household waste. 35 private organizations are engaged in waste management in the city.
The capital has 2815 container platforms housing 16,974 containers, 31 secondary raw material collection points and 599 containers for collecting energy- saving mercury lamps.
In 2012, the KazRecycleService LLP waste processing complex was built in the capital to handle residential/household waste. The complex has two lines with the automatic separation of organic waste, scrap metal, and manual sorting of secondary raw materials, as well as two workshops for the processing of plastic and wastepaper.
% of total household waste recycled in Nur-Sultan - 2017-2019.
Waste unsuitable for recycling is transferred for deposit in landfills.
| 2017 | 8,3 |
| 2018 | 12,3 |
| 2019 | 15,9 |
The streets of Uly Dala and Ryskulov, several parks, squares, pumping stations, and bus stops are illuminated by renewable energy, and eco-lounges and device chargers for gadgets have also been installed.
Renewable energy elements operate at 23 facilities in the capital. In 2019, the volume of electricity generated by these amounted to more than 1072 kWh, resulting in a savings of 20M Tenge to the city.
A "green" mosque has been built in the city, equipped with solar panels and which is also linked to the city electrical grid to transmit electricity to the city network.
A solar power plant with a capacity of 200 kWh has been installed on the territory of EXPO.
Renewable energy sources are being introduced at city utilities, with some pumping stations at Astana Su Arnasy state enterprise already operating on solar energy. At Astana Ormany, LLP, a Bolotov installation operates on wind power.
The capital requires additional landscaping and greenspace. At the close of 2019, there were 992,000 trees in the city – an insufficient number for a major metropolis – and the issue is being addressed with regular seedings. Between 2017-2019, 7964 trees, around 51,000 shrubs, 240,000 m2 of lawn, and 128,164 m of hedges were planted.
In the capital, the number of vehicles in operation has been a steadily increasing each year leading to a worsening of air pollution in the city. To confront this and reverse the trend, old public transportation is being replaced with new, environmentally friendly transport that conforms to Euro-5 and Euro-6 standards. By 2019, 738 newer model buses were in service in public transportation. Road repair and reconstruction is also a constant, mitigating vehicle emissions. Finally, as part of the Clean Air 2018-2019 project, emission standards from transport are monitored, with fines assessed to drivers whose vehicles are found to be out of compliance.
In 2019, the "Reconstruction of the Ishim riverbed in Nur-Sultan" was completed, deepening and expanding the river channel along a 1660-kilometer section. To prevent flooding in the capital, the Yesil River and its tributaries require dredging and reconstruction. By the close of 2019, 70% of the required dredging of the Yesil riverbed had been completed and had begun at the other locations. The main channel has been cleaned of vegetation with work planned to continue into 2020. As part of the "Reconstruction of the Sarybulak riverbed” project, 4300 meters of the river's banks have been landscaped and dredging work and channel expansion work are underway.