Residential housing ten thousand rated most polluted town in Russia declared by Soviet Union as a Disaster Zone remains operational
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Gps Coordinates / 55.4786679,60.2057283
Karabash 2013 Polluted Mining Town VR Russia
Ulitsa Kuznetsova, Karabash, Chelyabinskaya oblast', Russia
1990s Russia’s Environment Ministry declared the town an environmental disaster zone.
2014 Karabash also had the highest death rate for young people in the region. Karabash town has claimed highest un-natural death rates of entirety of Russia
Gps Coordinates / 55.4722412,60.2004858
2015 the town had one of the highest death rates from all causes in the country, and in 2014 the highest death rate in the Chelyabinsk region was recorded there.
Trees stopped growing on the mountain around the plant and the earth turned black. People began to call this place the “bare mountain”.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4722069 / Gps Link 55.4701852 / Gps Link 55.471739
Gps Coordinates / 55.4722069,60.200473 / 55.4701852,60.2031145 / 55.471739,60.207308
Concentration of arsenic is 279 times the permitted level for copper it’s 368 times and 300 times for lead, while the concentration of copper in the water is 600 times the permitted level. There are also no monitoring stations to check air quality in the town.
Sulphur dioxide irritates the mucus lining of the nose and throat and has a harmful effect on teeth. Leads too shortage of breath and loss of consciousness.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4723473 / Gps Link 55.4736326 / Gps Link 55.4754524
Gps Coordinates / 55.4723473,60.2087786 / 55.4736326,60.2107704 / 55.4754524,60.2133063
According to Russia’s Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights, 100 hectares of land have been contaminated and deposits of iron, zinc and sulphuric acid have been leaching into the river from the slag heaps on the edge of the town. By the 1990s, 14m tonnes of waste had been dumped there.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4786099 / Gps Link 55.4783936 / Gps Link 55.4743574
Gps Coordinates / 55.4786099,60.2075016 / 55.4783936,60.2031593 / 55.4743574,60.201314
In 1989, the authorities finally closed the copper works, leaving a considerable part of the population unemployed. The socio-economic situation in Karabash, already bad, got even worse.
Everything seems frozen in time like a Post Apocalyptic scenario whilst everything seems populated with many fresh examples of life
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4730816 / Gps Link 55.4827715 / Gps Link 55.4803769
Gps Coordinates / 55.4730816,60.2008196 / 55.4827715,60.2169424 / 55.4803769,60.216346
1990's plant re-opened under a new owner, as Karabashmed Ltd., but in 1996 the Russian environment ministry declared it an environmental disaster zone
Childrens Play Park entrance gates appear to be heavy industrial insulated copper piping that stretches around the town for many miles
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4801687 / Gps Link 55.4814302 / Gps Link 55.4814446
Gps Coordinates / 55.4801687,60.216367 / 55.4814302,60.214934 / 55.4814446,60.2143973
According to the city authorities, one workplace at the smelting plant gives from 3 to 5 new jobs in related industries and services in Karabash.
Entrance to a local outskirt nature reserve area called Eco-Hotel Extreme Club has large wooden arches approaching
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4813999 / Gps Link 55.4655943 / Gps Link 55.4656325
Gps Coordinates / 55.4813999,60.2124341 / 55.4655943,60.101944 / 55.4656325,60.1017868
First half of the 2000s the plant acquired a new owner — the Russian Copper Company (RMK)
As you approach the Eco-Hotel Extreme Club there appears to be a Huskie dog, animals fend better than humans in toxic waste dumps it has been studied
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.466976 / Gps Link 55.4671926 / Gps Link 55.4667162
Gps Coordinates / 55.466976,60.1013371 / 55.4671926,60.1011795 / 55.4667162,60.1015908
2000's co-owned by two Cypriot offshore companies, Pyracanta Holdings Limited and Tilia Holdings Limited, and produces 30,000 tonnes of crude copper a year.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4672839 / Gps Link 55.4673586,60 / Gps Link 55.4488992
Gps Coordinates / 55.4672839,60.1010994 / 55.4673586,60.1009981 / 55.4488992,60.2150336
The plant’s long production history has led to 60% of Karabash being polluted by mercury, while ground and water pollution levels are horrific.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4486538 / Gps Link 55.4485495 / Gps Link 55.4465095
Gps Coordinates / 55.4486538,60.2153076 / 55.4485495,60.2153986 / 55.4465095,60.2218504
Investigations revealed, among other things, that a considerable number of children had a raised metal content (lead, arsenic, cadmium) in their hair, and a higher than average amount of cadmium in their blood.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4465828 / Gps Link 55.4286572 / Gps Link 55.4363141
Gps Coordinates / 55.4465828,60.2217548 / 55.4286572,60.2111517 / 55.4363141,60.2431961
Rivers all over run red with toxic waste pollution local elected leaders have claimed why bother fixing it now because it unrepairable
Rivers, streams and lakes run crimson with copper mining toxic waste with alarming levels of mercury on majority of the cities life veins run blood red
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4362414 / Gps Link 55.4362414 / Gps Link 55.4352355
Gps Coordinates / 55.4362414,60.2433408 / 55.4362414,60.2433408 / 55.4352355,60.2452668
All the fish died, and the locals stopped hearing birdsong around the plant. A cross was erected on the “bare” mountain, inscribed with the words “save and protect” in large white letters.
The local fishing and bait store in Karabash with drone footage of car meet ups further outside of Karabash borders
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4937635 / Gps Link 55.4356591 / Gps Link 55.4139718
Gps Coordinates / 55.4937635,60.2043426 / 55.4356591,60.265737 / 55.4139718,60.268427
Middle aged Karabash woman quote - "Now there are fewer emissions, but whenever the gas reaches us, everything in the garden dies – vegetables, potatoes, even the chicks.”
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.414082 / Gps Link 55.4448236 / Gps Link 55.4448917
Gps Coordinates / 55.414082,60.2685037 / 55.4448236,60.2162258 / 55.4448917,60.2163666
“What’s it like living here, with the copper works?” I ask him. “See for yourself,” he says, “the gas is burning out the garden.”
As we passby the local hospital in 2013 there appears to be a person what appears to be a nursing uniform or could be summer clothes
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4449321 / Gps Link 55.4801238 / Gps Link 55.4992594
Gps Coordinates / 55.4449321,60.2165106 / 55.4801238,60.2083939 / 55.4992594,60.2125927
Everybody we talk to says the same thing: the locals don’t have to pay ground rent, since the soil is so polluted, and after complaints about air quality the plant is paying compensation, average of 3,000-5,000 roubles [£39-64] per person.
Lada Car sitting on a protected snowbank stand which prevents a car being drowned in snow, Ladas are a protected motorvehicle class
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4992141 / Gps Link 55.4991526 / Gps Link 55.4897719
Gps Coordinates / 55.4992141,60.2127143 / 55.4991526,60.2128309 / 55.4897719,60.2028165
Shabalina has chronic pharyngitis and her child has bronchial asthma, and she blames it on Karabashmed. She has a constant burning sensation in the back of her throat and says she often covers her face with a scarf on the street, the gas makes breathing impossible. She periodically brushes white flecks of chemical compounds from her clothing.
Many skylines to get you to love Karabash with extended vistas with the beauty of Karabash on high street
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4910425 / Gps Link 55.4980838 / Gps Link 55.49224
Gps Coordinates / 55.4910425,60.2033303 / 55.4980838,60.2077877 / 55.49224,60.2039122
Ten percent of Karabash residents work at the smelting plant. If you take family members into consideration, it works out that one person in three has connections with the company.
All Windows tinted, holding two phones with external window exhausts white knuckling it towards 2013 Karabash
Link Location Gps / Gps Link 55.4927045 / Gps Link 55.4923378
Gps Coordinates / 55.4927045,60.2017147 / 55.4923378,60.2116346
Population “reduced” from fifty thousand to ten thousand in a few decades, all vegetation dead, it rains Sulphur ie:- acid rain on high streets with nearby toxic waste dumps and it shows
Gps Coordinates / 55.488641,60.205803
It was founded in 1822 as a settlement of gold-miners. Town status was granted to it on June 20, 1933
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We have left Tourism Brochures to Karabash below, enjoy the beauty of Karabash at local tourist holiday homes below, let us know how you got along in our comments.
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