Azerbaijan's Ecology & Natural Resources Ministry has expressed its dissatisfaction with Azerbaijan City Sumgayit as being included in the list of the 33 most polluted and contaminated cities of the World which was prepared by the Blacksmith Institute (New-York), Trend reports.
The above-mentioned Institute produced the list of the World's Most Polluted Cities. Eight cities in Russia, 6 in India, 2 in US, two in Romania, Mexico, Czechia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzia as well as other countries had been listed, including the Azerbaijan City of Sumgayit.
According to a message from the Ministry, it is correct that during the period 1970-1980 the level of pollution and contamination of the atmosphere of the City was very high and for this reason, the city received the name Dead City.
However, that does not mean that the ecological situation in the city is still as critical as it used to be. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, all the chemical activity in the city was suspended and as a result, the level of atmospheric emission and injection was significantly reduced.
If in the 1990s, 96,400 tons of contaminants were injected to the atmosphere of the city, in 1995, this figure was 40,200 tons, and in 2000 only 17,600 tons.
If in the 1990s, polluted waters at a volume of 600,000 cubic meters were wasted into the sea, in 2005 this figure made up 80,000 cubic meters. Over this period, the volume of hard waste was reduced from 300,000 tons to 3.900 tons.
Measures have recently been taken to improve the ecological situation in Sumgayit and the results we have achieved is that Sumgayit should no longer be included in the list of the World's most polluted cities, pointed out the Ministry.