Daily highlights Hungary's most polluted regions

Daily Népszabadság has complied a list of Hungary's most polluted regions after the New York City-based Blacksmith Institute recently published a report on the world's ten most polluted areas.

"Official" pollution lists have not been compiled for Hungary, but the environment ministry regularly publishes a list of settlements with the most polluted air. Unofficial lists are usually based on the extent of environmental damage and the estimated costs of relief.

Based on the above factors, Hungary's most polluted areas are those along the Danube river. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Danube is one of the world's ten dirtiest living rivers, and most problems are registered on its stretch between Bratislava, Slovakia and Belgrade, Serbia, most of which is in Hungary. In terms of bacteria, the most polluted section of the whole length of the river is in Budapest. The costs of cleaning are estimated at Ft 100 billion. European Union funds have been provided, and construction of purifying stations is currently underway.

The 2nd region on the list is the valley of the Sajó river (north-eastern Hungary), which is heavily affected by industrial pollutants. There are four power plants, two cement factories, and several metalworks, machinery and mining plants in the region. In addition, three of Hungary's most prominent chemical factories are located in the towns of Kazincbarcika, Tiszaújváros and Sajóbábony. Cleaning is yet to begin, although restrictions on industrial expansion have resulted in an improvement to the river's wildlife.

Dunaújváros and its environs (Fejér County) are also among the most polluted areas with metalworks plants producing some 10,000 tons of hazardous waste in solid, liquid or dust form every year.

Várpalota and its environs (Veszprém County) is also heavily polluted by the mining and metals industry in the area. Cleaning has started with the help of an environment protection aid package.

The scars left by uranium and coal mines in the Mecsek hills (southern Hungary) are the country's largest environmental rehabilitation project.

After the above regions, the paper also mentions the pollution caused by state railway MÁV, which includes a total of 67 areas around the country where the soil is soaked with oil derivatives and chemicals. The cost of cleaning these areas is only topped by the resources required to purify the Danube.

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