Top Ten Most Polluted Places in The World

• UniWorldNews


• 8 Mar 2014

Following are the top ten most polluted places in the world:

1. Chernobyl, Ukraine: Chernobyl is on the top spot of the most populated places in this world. The biggest disaster held by the nuclear radiations left a tremendous outcome and the direct and indirect victims of this disaster were more than 80 thousand. The radiations discharged in the incident were at least hundred times of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The nuclear radiations are the major reason of pollution at this place.

2. Dzerzhinsk, Russia: Dzerzhinsk is a Russian city and it is located almost 400 km towards the eastern part of Moscow. The Dzerzhinsk holds the record in Guinness Book of World Record for the most polluted city in the world in the year 2007. The chemical wastes that are stored in the landfills was about 300,000 tons in between the time period of 1930 and 1988, this was the peak time for the manufacturing of chemical weapons in Russia.  In a total population of about 245,000 the average life expectancy for women is only 47 and for men is 42 years.

3. Haina, Dominican Republic: The main populated area Bajos de Haina is tainted with the harmful lead fumes which are coming from the Metaloxa batteries for cars which is a recycling plant and got closed in 1997. The presence of the toxic lead levels is calculated as the utmost in the world which can lead to many harmful diseases like eye injuries and birth defects. Later this company got closed from the Haina and moved to some other place.

4. Kabwe, Zambia: After the capital Lusaka, Kabwe is the second largest city of Zambia. The Kabwe is facing some serious trouble because of the mining belt. This place consists of large amount of lead, zinc, silver, manganese and other minerals in 1902. The explosion of these minerals resulted in water and air pollution. The quantity of lead found in the blood of children is so much higher than the normal one.

5. La Oroya, Peru: On the fifth spot we have the Peruvian city La Oroya. This city was exposed to the dangerous emanations coming out from the smelter which was owned by Doe Run U.S. corporation. The major emissions from the smelter were zinc, copper, sulfur dioxide and lead. These emissions were in a very heavy quantity and were calculated as ten times more than the normal one. The quantity of lead in a small baby of less than six months was calculated as three times more than of normal one.

6. Linfen China: The Linfen faced a serious problem because of the Chinese coal industry, they produced almost two-third of the complete country’s coal. The Linfen is the most polluted city and people of Linfen are almost inhaling coal smoke. The amount of pollution in the air is very high and the people of Linfen dosen’t even have pure drinking water. The water they drink contains a heavy amount of arsenic which is bad for health.

7. Mailuu Suu, Kyrgyzstan: The processing plant for uranium created a serious problem for the people of Mailuu-Suu. In the time period between 1946 and 1968 more than 10,000 tons of uranium was processed during the first atomic bomb creation. After the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, this plant was closed and about 1.96 million cubic meters of radioactive waste was left behind. The radioactive waste left created a very serious problem for the people living there.

8.Norilsk, Russia: Norilsk is an industrial city founded in 1935. The mining and smelting operations began in the 1930s and made the region the largest smelter complex of heavy metals in the world. About 500 tons of oxides of copper and nickel, 2 million tons of sulfur dioxide are released annually into the air. The life expectancy for factory workers in Norilsk is 10 years below the Russian average. Although the exact number of people potentially affected by pollution in Norilsk is unknown, it is estimated that more than 130,000 local residents are being exposed to particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and phenols. Previous studies have found high concentrations of copper and nickel soil almost everywhere within a radius of 60 kilometers from the city. This led to increased levels of respiratory diseases and cancer of the lungs and digestive system.

9. Hazaribagh, Bangladesh: Hazaribagh is one of the most polluted places in the world. Up to 95% of the 270 registered tanneries in Bangladesh can be found in the town of Hazaribagh. Chemicals as known carcinogen chromium enter the water supply from these installations leather processing.

10. Gold mines in Kalimantan, Indonesia: It is also one of the most polluted places of the world. Kalimantan belongs to the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo and is particularly known for its gold mines. For the precious metal, many miners use mercury, releasing over a thousand tons of toxic material into the environment every year, polluting the groundwater.