- - World's Dirtiest Cities - -


Chernobyl, Ukraine Chernobyl is famous for its long list of pollutants: uranium, plutonium, radioactive iodine, cesium-137, strontium and other heavy or radioactive metals. The amount of radiation leaked was 100 times the levels released in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Chernobyl's 135,000 citizens have been evacuated, and there is a 19-mile exclusion zone where no one lives. It is hard to get dirtier that that.

Dzerzinsk, Russia Dzerzinsk has a population of 300,000, and they are all at risk from Cold War-type chemical weapons manufacture, storage and bad disposal that amount to a ton of chemical wastes for each Dzerzinsk citizen. Toxic chemicals in ground water have contributed to a death rate 2.6 times the birth rate. It is clearly not a good place to love or die.

Haina, Dominican Republic Haina could be called the capital of lead poisoning for its 85,000 citizens and most particularly for those in the area known as Bajos de Haina. A former battery plant has caused high soil and blood levels of lead (in blood this amounts to lead poisoning). The good news is that there is concerted action to improve the situation.

Kabwe, Zambia Kabwe is Zambia's second-largest city, with 250,000 citizens. High levels of lead poisoning are brought about by concentrated mining of lead-bearing ore. Children in Kabwe may have five to 10 times the EPA's allowable limit.

La Oroya, Peru A poly-metallic smelter has exposed La Oroya citizens to toxic emissions for decades. This has resulted in high lead levels in the blood of the children of the city of 35,000. Nearly 100% of the children are over-exposed. The city also suffers from sulfur dioxide emissions, and this has killed the surrounding vegetation.

Linfen, China Linfen is not alone among polluting cities in China, but it is one of the greatest offenders. It suffers from pollutants such as fly-ash, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, arsenic, lead and nitrogen oxides. Coal mining, burning and hauling are responsible for a great deal of this dirtiness, which affects the air, the ground and the water.

Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan Mailuu-Suu has been a source of multiple disasters. It was a huge uranium processing center. The bombs are somewhere else, but there remains 1.96 million cubic meters of mining waste that is radioactive. The World Bank is starting a containment project in this seismically active area.

Norlisk, Russia The former slave labor site has a range of pollutants including Strontium-90, Cesium-137 and lesser evils, including hydrogen sulfide. It still holds the world's largest heavy metal smelting complex.

Ranipet, India Ranipet€ ¦ï¿½s pollution can affect up to 3 million people, as it is upstream from populous Chennai. Its tannery waste amounted to 1,500,000 tons a year of toxic material. There is contamination of ground and water. There are efforts being made at containment.

Rudnaya Pristan, Russia Just about everything in and around this 90,000-person city is full of lead from smelting operations. The plant has been shut down, and plans are being readied for repairs to lives and land.