MOST POLLUTED Places in The World!

 

from places where children suffer from  radiation caused mutations to cities  where the residents can hardly breathe  these are the world's most polluted  locations number 11  Chernobyl let's start with one of the  world's most infamous polluted places  Chernobyl the nuclear accident that  happened here took place on April 26  1986 the incident occurred during a test  at the Chernobyl nuclear power plants  number four nuclear reactor after the  test was delayed for 10 hours and the  supervisor failed to follow protocol the  conditions became unstable since the  reactor already contained design flaws  the combination of events resulted in a  nuclear chain reaction that couldn't be  controlled an enormous amount of energy  was released all at once which vaporized  the cooling water causing a destructive  explosion that ruptured the reactor core  the open air fire that followed caused a  tremendous amount of airborne  radioactive contamination the fallout  lasted for nine days about 39,000 square  miles were contaminated although it's  been decades since the event Chernobyl  is still one of the most radioactive  places in the world  plants and animals experience mutations  behavioural abnormalities and stunted  growth number 10 cob ways Zambia this is  the Zambian central provinces capital  and has an estimated population of over  200,000 people it was known as Broken  Hill until 1966 by the Australian and  European prospectors that founded it  after zinc and let deposits were  discovered there in 1902 the term cob  way means smelting or or the mine was  the largest in the nation for years  producing manganese silver titanium  cadmium and other metals nowadays the  mine is closed  even though metals are still taken from  the area it is one of the most polluted  places on earth because of the heavy  metals that seep into the local water  supply a 2014 report suggested that the  blood lead levels in children remain  elevated even though mining has halted  number nine Kanpur India in 2018 Kanpur  was recognized as the city with the  worst air pollution on earth by the  World Health Organization it has a  population of over two million seven  hundred thousand in the number of people  with respiratory illnesses has tripled  since about five years ago according to  the head of the Ganesh encore  articlegraphy Memorial Medical Colleges  Department of Medicine since the city's  largest Hospital is extremely  overcrowded with patients who have  respiratory issues they often have to  stay in the ophthalmology ward some of  the disease's the citizens of Kanpur  deal with are bronchial asthma pneumonia  and chronic obstructive pulmonary  disease as well as lung cancer the  majority of the city's pollution is  caused by soot and dust that gets worse  during winter plus biomass burning and  vehicle emissions contribute Kanpur is  chief pollution officer stated that they  plan to combat the pollution by building  new roads and a public transportation  system planting trees and cleaning the  contaminated Ganges River unfortunately  there is no deadline in place because  the city lacks the means to complete  these tasks in a timely manner  number eight la Arroyo Peru this city in  central Peru is in the Andean mountains  settlements here date back to 10,000 BCE  but the Spanish established a settlement  in 1533 and began small mining  operations for precious metals  throughout the centuries mining continue  to develop significantly expanding in  1893 when the railway from La Noria to  Lima was completed this city is home to  a copper smelter led smelter and zinc  refinery which produce thousands of tons  of these metals annually because of  these plants la Arroyo is one of the  world's most polluted places especially  since clean operations worked the  primary focus of the original owners as  a result of decades of pollution the  surrounding hills were stripped of  greenery the river became toxic and  people living there suffered residents  often have dangerously high LED levels  in their blood and lead pollutes the  drinking water as well when the  worldwide company Doerun purchased the  area it estimated a cost of  seven million dollars to take the  required measures for environmental  remediation more recent estimates  suggest more than 240 million dollars  number seven Hina Dominican Republic  sometimes called the Dominican Chernobyl  this town was recognized as having the  world's highest levels of lead  contamination all of highness residents  had symptoms of lead poisoning the  pollution was believed to be the result  of an old automobile recycling smelter  which has now been moved to a different  place  unfortunately the remains of the site  continued to contaminate the area for  years in the late 2000s the United  states-based environmental group called  the blacksmith Institute performed a  clean up removing over six thousand  cubic meters of polluted soil and the  area was transformed into a park since  then blood lead levels have  substantially decreased number six  Linfen China this Chinese city makes the  list because hasty industrialization in  the 1990s caused the demand for energy  to increase thus the price of coal  increased dramatically private mines  that weren't strictly regulated expanded  quickly to meet demands the mining  smelting cooking and city development  caused severe pollution and  environmental damage beginning in 2004  when Linfen was at its worst there were  only 15 days per year when the air  pollution levels were acceptable after  reports of the city's pollution were  published efforts were made to clean it  up some of the mines were shut down in  coal trucks weren't allowed to enter the  city reducing the amount of coal dust  plus they switched their main power  source from coal to gas and 85% of the  population was using natural gas to heat  their homes in place of coal by 2007 the  Ministry of Environmental Protection  monitors the environmental conditions of  Linfen as well and it is now considered  a model city of environmental protection  number five my Lu su kyrgyzstan this  mining town is in southern Kyrgyzstan it  takes up about 46 square miles and  around 23,000 people live there since  the Soviet Union fell the economy of my  Lu su has suffered and 23 unstable  uranium tailings pits  were left behind by the USSR they sit  atop the hillside above the town which  is tectonic Li unstable in 1958 six  hundred thousand cubic meters of  radioactive tailings were released into  the Milo Sioux River following a dam  breach in addition to the breach  significant amounts of uranium were  extracted from the mountains and mining  waste was stored throughout the town  making environmental issues even worse a  study done on the town's residents  showed that 98 percent of the people  living near the waste storage sites  suffered from liver and thyroid diseases  in some areas the radionuclide levels in  the river are 200 times as high as the  recommended level my Lu su continues to  endure severe pollution today number 4  sue keen de Indias sue Kunda is a town  in Odisha India which accounts for 98  percent of the nation's chromite  reserves ninety-seven percent of those  reserves are within the sukhendu Valley  there are about 12 mines operating in  sue Kenda and they aren't regulated for  environmental damage the pollution that  is created by these mines is an extreme  health hazard  60% of sue Kenda's drinking water is  contaminated with hexavalent chromium  with levels over 2 times what's  recommended by global standards this  heavy metal is used in producing  stainless steel as well as in leather  tanning some estimations suggest that  over 84% of the fatalities in mining  areas are caused by diseases related to  chromite unfortunately for the people  who live there and the environment no  real attempt has been made to clean the  place up number three some kaya  Azerbaijan another polluted place is  some kayat located in Azerbaijan near  the Caspian Sea the city became  extremely polluted after  industrialization a thermal power  station was built in the late 1930s and  early 1940s to provide power to the  petroleum industry after 1944 chemical  and metallurgical plants were  constructed and began operating this  created a new job market and the some  kayat population increased in the 1950s  a synthetic rubber factory was built in  the cities aluminum  processing plants began operating by  1960 construction of the petroleum  chemical factor commenced and other  factories followed including a brick  producing factory a phosphor producing  plant and an industrial complex for  polymer construction materials among  various others this made some chi at the  center of the USSR s chemical industry  by the 1980s but after Azerbaijan gained  its independence from the Soviet Union  in 1991 some kayat and other industrial  areas began to decline a former Soviet  base started contaminating the area with  heavy metals and chemicals some kayat  became known for a cemetery containing  the remains of numerous infants and  children who were born with deformities  and mental illnesses caused by the  pollution luckily a protection plan  established in the mid 2000s has  steadily decreased to the contamination  levels significantly number two taiwan  china this is the capital of China's  Shaanxi province and is one of the  nation's main manufacturing bases dating  back to 493 C it is an ancient city with  over 2,500 years of history since its  urbanization Taiwan was the center of  industrial development for decades it  was connected via railroads to the  southwestern in northernmost parts of  Shaanxi the Japanese military occupied  Taiwan from 1945 until their surrender  exploiting the area's resources but when  they did surrender about 15,000 troops  decided to stay in China rather than  return to their country and fight for  Taiwan's ruler the Japanese soldiers  proved beneficial in their technical  knowledge helped with running the city's  various industries Taiwan has an  abundance of natural resources including  iron coal silica marble phosphorus  copper gold among many many others which  unfortunately resulted in severe air  pollution especially from the production  of coal the worst of the pollution  occurred from the 1990s to around 2010  nowadays the government is focused on  air quality and they've been working  hard to improve it although correcting  the mistakes from decades upon decades  of pollution isn't easy they've made  significant advancements by creating  stricter emissions  standards reducing energy consumption  and being much tougher on companies that  produce toxic and hazardous materials  number one George in Scotia located  along the oka River in Russia this city  is a significant center for chemical  production and used to be the main site  for chemical weapons production the  creation of these weapons began in 1941  with the focal point being Lewis site a  compound containing arsenic trioxide  which has poisonous effects they also  focused on producing mustard gas also  known as EP right in addition to these  two highly toxic chemicals the factory  in tzer's introduced phosphine and  prussic acid another incredibly  poisonous inflammable substance these  operations stopped in 1965 in the  chemical wastes containing large amounts  of arsenic was buried in dumps but the  city still has several industrial  enterprises that make around a thousand  different types of chemical products in  2007 the life expectancy in zoos in  squizz 47 years for women and 42 for men  which was attributed to high levels of  persistent organic pollutants which are  resistant to environmental deterioration  in addition to Lewis site and mustard  gas the worst pollutants in sir sins are  sarin hydrogen cyanide led in phosphine  the sites that contribute to  contamination include toxic waste burial  grounds the landfill and the white sea  which is made up of dumped chemical  wastes would you dare step foot in one  of these toxic places let us know in the  comments below and as always thank you  for reading