THE MOST POLLUTED PLACES
Added on: 2nd Dec 2014
LA OROYA, PERU
The small Andean town of La Oroya has been home to a
metal smelter run by Missouri based Doe Run Corporation since 1922.
As a result nearly all the local children suffer from lead poisoning
and respiratory complications.
NORILSK, RUSSIA
This Siberian city houses an even larger smelting complex than
La Oroya (it’s actually the largest in the world). Not surprisingly,
the pollution here is so bad that the average life expectancy is up to
10 years less than the rest of Russia.
CITARUM RIVER, INDONESIA
One of the world’s most polluted rivers, over 5 million people
reside in its basin and rely on it as their primary water supply.
KABWE, ZAMBIA
After years of mining and processing both cadmium and lead
are very common in the hills surrounding this Zambian city.
In fact, the children here have been found to have 10 times the
permissible EPA level of lead in their bloodstream. Moreover,
the ground is barren and nothing will grow as a result of
the contamination.
RIACHUELO BASIN, ARGENTINA
The Riachuelo Basin in Argentina is lined by nearly 4,000 factories,
42 garbage dumps, and 13 slums. Definitely not a good
combination when it comes to health and life expectancy.
MAILUU-SUU, KYRGYZSTAN
As one of the largest dumps of radioactive waste in all of
Asia, Mailuu-Suu is not only heavily contaminated but there are a series
of unstable uranium tailing pits in the hills surrounding the city.
Were these pits to empty the result would be disastrous.
SUKINDA, INDIA
With upwards of a dozen mines operating in the regions without
any significant level of regulation, the this Indian city has been listed as
one of the most polluted in the world by the Blacksmith Institute.
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
Long an oil hub, Azerbaijan’s capital suffers from extensive
pollution as a result of shipping and drilling.
RONDONIA, BRAZIL
Although not polluted in the same sense as some of the other
places on this list, Rondonia has been subjected to extensive
deforestation in recent years and is now one of the most destroyed
regions of the Amazon Rainforest.
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