When you go on vacation, you expect to see the cleanest sea, well-groomed towns, a landscaped hotel area, blooming flower beds, and you definitely don't want to find yourself in the most toxic places on the planet.
People and technical progress are almost always to blame for the pollution of rivers and cities, which becomes the reason for the emergence of new factories and plants that produce useful products, but at the same time have waste in the form of dyes, chemicals, and poisons. They need to be drained somewhere, processed somehow. Usually, business owners, especially in third world countries, try not to think about treatment facilities - these are unnecessary costs that can be avoided.
So there appear - not immediately, after decades - toxic regions, whose inhabitants begin to get sick and die, and tourists become scared to even live for a week in such a place.
Chitarum river, Indonesia
The dirtiest waterway on the planet is the Chitarum River on the island of Java. It was on its banks that the first indigenous people of Indonesia settled, the water from this river is still used for drinking and irrigation of fields.
But even with the naked eye you can see how unsafe it is not just to drink, but even to wash your hands in this water. Garbage lies in mountains on the banks of the Chitarum, floating in the water. Sometimes, behind it you can't even see the water surface. Plastic, pieces of furniture, tires - what not here.
The Chitarum River did not immediately turn into a general garbage dump:
- in the 1980s, 800 textile mills began pouring their waste directly into the river;
- today, about 2 thousand factories have been built along the river bed, which dump directly into the water chemicals and metals hazardous to human life and health, for example, mercury, the content of which in the Chitarum water already exceeds the norm by a hundred times;
- livestock farms were also involved in the pollution of the river.
In 2018, the President of Indonesia spoke about plans to cleanse Chitarum, which will have to spend about $ 4 billion.
Dzerzhinsk, Russia
Recently in the world press there were photos of bright blue dogs that live in the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region. The dogs were running around the abandoned territory of the Plexiglas chemical plant. Probably, the four-legged ones got this color due to the fact that they were smeared in copper sulphate spilled somewhere.
Pictures from the same Dzerzhinsk, which captured pink snow, also became a sensation. He covered the accumulator where the unnecessary acid was poured.
Despite the fact that blue dogs and pink snow look quite exotic, this is a reason to wonder if everything is so safe with the environment in Dzerzhinsk. During the years of the Soviet Union, this city was a place where experiments on the creation of chemical weapons were carried out. Some 300,000 tons of hazardous waste is said to still be stored outdoors.
The city itself can serve as an illustration for the Strugatsky zone: there are many landfills, one of which is even called the "Black Hole", about a thousand abandoned and forgotten factory buildings, dirty underground waters. A scary place that is better to go around!
La Oroya, Peru
The small mountain town of La Oroya in the center of Peru could become the pearl of the region and the center of attraction for tourists, but due to the depressing environmental situation, the latter bypass it.
The fact is that a hundred years ago a metallurgical plant was built in La Oroya. This was the beginning of all the troubles of the local population. An industrial enterprise emits many harmful metals into the atmosphere - lead, copper, zinc. Acid rain is falling in the city, which destroys all the flora and fauna in the area.
Local residents, and about 35 thousand people live in La Oroya, inhale harmful fumes and almost everyone suffers from pulmonary diseases. Children are born with various mutations.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to cope with the authorities of the plant, although the townspeople are fighting in every possible way for their lives. True, even if the plant is closed, nothing can be done with contaminated water and soil.
Niger Delta, Nigeria
Oil is produced in the Niger Delta. Both Nigerian and foreign corporations work here, pumping oil, regardless of the fact that they pollute the entire region.
For several years, about 3 thousand oil spills have occurred here, which makes the water in the numerous streams and rivulets in the delta unsuitable for drinking. From such a careless attitude to nature, both animals, who are deprived of reservoirs, and people, of whom more than 30 million live here, suffer.
Local residents have no income at all from oil extraction right next to their homes.
Recently, separatist gangs have begun to appear in Nigeria, accusing foreign companies of environmental pollution and blowing up their oil pipelines, causing even more oil to spill - a vicious circle.
