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We have a bad attitude towards the planet that gave us life, feeds us and gives us all means of subsistence. A person very often tries with all his might to turn his habitat into a stinking garbage dump. And he usually succeeds. Forests are cut down and animals are destroyed, rivers are polluted with toxic effluents, and the oceans are turned into garbage dumps.
Some of the cities we live in look like an illustration from a horror movie. They have multi-colored puddles, stunted trees and air saturated with toxic emissions. People in such cities do not live long, children get sick, and the smell of exhaust gases becomes a familiar aroma.
Our country in this respect is no different from other industrialized countries. Cities where chemical or any other harmful production is developed are a sad sight. We have put together a list for you that includes the dirtiest cities in Russia. Some of them can be said to be in a real ecological disaster. But the authorities do not care about this, and the locals seem to have become accustomed to living in such conditions.
Long the dirtiest city in Russia was considered Dzerzhinsk in the Novgorod region. This settlement used to produce chemical weapons, it was closed to the outside world. Over decades of such activity, so many different chemical rubbish has accumulated in the soil that local residents rarely live to be 45 years old. However, we make our list based on the Russian system of calculation, and it takes into account only harmful substances in the atmosphere. Soil and water are not taken into account.
10 Magnitogorsk
Our list opens with a city that throughout its short history has been strongly associated with metallurgy, heavy industry and the exploits of the first five-year plans. The city is home to the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the largest such enterprise in Russia. It accounts for most of the harmful emissions that poison the lives of citizens. In total, about 255 thousand tons of harmful substances enter the city air annually. Agree, a huge number. Numerous filters are installed at the plant, but they help little, the concentration of nitrogen dioxide and soot in the air exceeds the norm several times.
9. Angarsk
In ninth place on our list is another Siberian city. Although Angarsk is considered to be quite prosperous, the ecological situation here is sad. The chemical industry is extremely developed in Angarsk. Oil is actively processed here, there are many machine-building enterprises, they also harm nature, and in addition, there is a plant in Angarsk that processes uranium and spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Neighborhood with such a plant has not yet added health to anyone. Every year, 280 tons of toxic substances enter the city air.
8. Omsk
In eighth place is another Siberian city, the atmosphere of which annually receives 290 tons of harmful substances. Most of them are emitted by stationary sources. However, more than 30% of emissions come from cars. Do not forget that Omsk is a huge city with a population of over 1,16 million people.
Industry began to develop rapidly in Omsk after the war, as dozens of enterprises from the European part of the USSR were evacuated here. Now the city has a large number of enterprises of ferrous metallurgy, chemical industry and mechanical engineering. All of them pollute the city air.
7. Novokuznetsk
This city is one of the centers of Russian metallurgy. Many of the enterprises have outdated equipment and seriously poison the air. The largest metallurgical enterprise in the city is the Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Works, which is also the main air pollutant. In addition, the coal industry is quite developed in the region, which also produces a lot of harmful emissions. Residents of the city consider the poor ecological situation in the city to be one of their main problems.
6. Lipetsk
This city is home to Europe’s largest metallurgical plant (NLMK), which emits a huge amount of pollutants into the air. In addition to him, there are several other large enterprises in Lipetsk that contribute to the deterioration of environmental conditions in the village.
Every year, 322 thousand tons of various harmful substances enter the city air. If the wind blows from the side of the metallurgical plant, then a strong smell of hydrogen sulfide is felt in the air. True, it should be noted that in recent years the company has taken certain steps to reduce harmful emissions, but there are no results yet.
5. Asbestos
Fifth on our list dirtiest cities in Russia the Ural settlement is located. As it becomes clear from the name of this city, asbestos is mined and processed in it, and silicate brick is also produced. Here is the world’s largest plant that extracts asbestos. And it was these enterprises that brought the city to the brink of ecological disaster.
More than 330 thousand tons of substances hazardous to human health are emitted into the air every year, most of these emissions come from stationary sources. 99% of them are accounted for by one enterprise. You can also add that asbestos dust is very dangerous and can cause cancer.
4. Cherepovets
This city is home to giant chemical and metallurgical plants: Cherepovets Azot, Severstal, Severstal-Metiz, and Ammofos. Every year, they emit about 364 tons of substances hazardous to human health into the air. The city has a very high number of diseases of the respiratory system, heart and oncological diseases.
The situation is especially worse in spring and autumn.
3. St. Petersburg
In third place on our list is the city of St. Petersburg, in which there are no large industrial enterprises or especially hazardous industries. However, here the matter is different: there are a very large number of cars in the city and most of the emissions are car exhaust gases.
The traffic in the city is poorly organized, cars often stand idle in traffic jams, while poisoning the air. The share of vehicles accounts for 92,8% of all harmful emissions into the air of the city. Every year, 488,2 thousand tons of harmful substances enter the air, and this is much more than in cities with developed industry.
2. Moscow
In second place in terms of environmental pollution is the capital of the Russian Federation – the city of Moscow. There are no large and dangerous industries here, no coal or heavy metals are mined, but every year about 1000 thousand tons of substances harmful to humans are emitted into the air of a huge metropolis. The main source of these emissions are cars, they account for 92,5% of all harmful substances in the Moscow air. Cars pollute the air especially heavily during many hours of standing in traffic jams.
The situation is getting worse every year. If the situation continues to develop, it will soon be impossible to breathe in the capital.
1. Norilsk
First on our list most polluted cities in Russia, with a very large margin is the city of Norilsk. This settlement, which is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, has been a leader among the most environmentally unfavorable Russian cities for many years. This is recognized not only by domestic experts, but also by foreign environmentalists. Many of them consider Norilsk a zone of ecological disaster. In the last few years, the city has become one of the leaders most polluted areas on the planet.
The reason for this situation is quite simple: the Norilsk Nickel enterprise is located in the city, which is the main polluter. In 2010, 1 tons of hazardous waste was released into the air.
Studies conducted several years ago showed that the level of heavy metals, hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid exceeds the safe level by several times. In total, the researchers counted 31 harmful substances, the concentration of which exceeds the permissible norm. Plants and living things are slowly dying. In Norilsk, the average life expectancy is ten years less than the national average.