₦airaland Forum

The new WHO database of worldwide air pollution measures it in two different ways, and as a result two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can lay claim to the unenviable title of world’s most polluted city.

It all comes down to which minute particles, or particulate matter (PM), in the air are being measured. These particles are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The coarser PM10s include dust stirred up by cars on roads and the wind, soot from open fires and partially burned carbon from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and wood. The particles are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.


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But the ultra-fine particles known as PM2.5s can only be seen with microscopes and are produced from all kinds of combustion. These are small enough to get from the lungs into the blood supply and are possibly more deadly because they affect the cardiovascular system.

Many cities in developing countries traditionally monitor only PM10s. But increasingly PM2.5 pollution is seen as the best measure of how bad air pollution is for health. Richer countries usually have higher levels of PM 2.5s, while low income countries have higher levels of PM10s. Both, says the WHO, are deadly.

Onitsha: highest for PM10s
In 2013, two people died of heat exhaustion after a six-hour gridlock on the city’s bridge over the river Niger. Cars and trucks on the main road to Lagos belch fumes from burning low-quality diesel, and the air often stinks of burning waste from rubbish dumps, the smoke from old ships on the river and discharges from the metal workshops.


But people did not expect Onitsha in Anambra state on the eastern bank of the mile-wide river Niger, to be named the most polluted in the world.

According to the WHO, an air quality monitor there registered 594 micrograms per cubic metre of microscopic PM10 particles, and 66 of the more deadly PM2.5s. Onitsha’s figures are nearly twice as bad as notoriously polluted cities such as Kabul, Beijing and Tehran and 30 times worse than London.

“We know pollution is very bad here. But this city must be much better than Lagos,” said Solomon Okechukwa, a sceptical Anambra state official, on Wednesday.


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But Onitsha, say academics, is a textbook example of the perils of rapid urbanisation without planning or public services creating a sustained pollution assault on its water and air.

As a tropical port city which has doubled in size to over 1 million people in just a few years, it is frequently shrouded in plumes of black diesel smoke from old ships; it has no proper waste incineration plants; its construction sites and workshops emit clouds of dust and its heavy traffic is some of the worst in Nigeria.

A recent study of Onitsha’s water pollution found more than 100 petrol stations in the city, often selling low-quality fuel, dozens of unregulated rubbish dumps, major fuel spills and high levels of arsenic, mercury, lead, copper and iron in its water. The city’s many metal industries, private hospitals and workshops were all said to be heavy polluters emitting chemical, hospital and household waste and sewage.


“The level of pollution in Onitsha is getting increasingly serious,” said the authors.

However, the WHO also said on Wednesday that the pollution data from Onitsha was not necessarily reliable because it came from a single monitoring station.

“It is difficult to get accurate measurements in Africa. You can get super-high readings, but ideally the measurements should be done over a year to include different seasons and times of day. The reading in Onitsha may be representative but not altogether reliable,” said a WHO spokeswoman.

Zabol: highest for PM2.5s
Zabol, an eastern Iranian city on the border with Afghanistan, was once at the heart of a bustling ancient civilisation, close to where the very first piece of animation came from in the form of an intricate pottery bowl dating back 5,000 years that displays a goat in motion.

But the city is now a largely neglected area plagued by poverty - and pollution.

Every summer, as temperatures rise to staggering levels of 40C or even higher, Zabol is struck by what is locally known as “120 days of wind”, relentless dust storms from north to south.

The Hamoun wetland, pictured last year, whch has almost disappeared due to drought and climate change.
The Hamoun wetland, pictured last year, whch has almost disappeared due to drought and climate change. Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media
But the disappearance in the early 2000s of a nearby wetland, Hamoun, has exacerbated the situation to an unprecedented extent. Over many centuries, the wetland was crucial to the development of the area, serving as its natural cooler. Now it has dried up and become a major source of dust in the air.

Zabol is only 45 minute’s drive away from Shahr-i Sokhta (Burnt City), a Unesco-designated world heritage site, home to the remains of a mudbrick city belonging to the bronze age.

In recent years, suffocating dust storms sweeping across Zabol have repeatedly disrupted life, closing down schools and government offices. Last year officials were forced to distribute free masks and national headlines such as “Zabol’s pollution reaching 40 times more than normal” have become part of daily life. Similar storms have also ravaged west of the country.

Mohsen Soleymani, the national project manager for preservation of Iranian wetlands, said pollution in Zabol was different from that in Tehran or Beijing, where it is linked to industry. “We are facing a critical situation in Zabol and the 120 days of wind period worsens the dust storms every year,” he told the Guardian.


“The drying up of Hamoun is the main reason behind this level of pollution but other factions have contributed to the situation such as bad management of our water resources in the past.”

According to Soleymani more than 700,000 job opportunities have disappeared because of the wetland’s situation. According to a report published by Iran’s Shargh daily, more than 500 people are diagnosed with tuberculosis in Zabol every year due to dust pollution, an unusual rate in the country. Hamoun’s crisis has forced people out of nearly 300 villages in the province, the Iranian daily reported.


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Kaveh Madani, a senior lecturer in environmental management from Imperial College London, said: “The thirst for development in Iran increased as a result of the 1979 revolution, Iraq-Iran war and the international sanctions..

“Iranians continued developing infrastructure without a real concern about the long-term environmental consequences of their development plans, which normally lacked strong environmental impact assessments.”

Air pollution, dust storms, drying lakes and rivers, declining groundwater levels, land subsidence, deforestation, and desertification are on the menu of environmental products caused by unsustainable development, he said.

“Some of the problems, however, are not domestic products. Transboundary conflicts over Helmand (Hirmand) river with Afghanistan, resulting in water shortage and intensified dust storms have heavily impacted the lives of those living around the Hamouns wetlands,” he said.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/12/which-are-the-worlds-two-most-polluted-cities-and-why

Willie better work on this.

This recent and consistent mention of Nigeria and Afghanistan on same page is scary. Ihope and pray the West doesn't want to turn us into Afghanistan or Somalia.

Why the 2 conflicting reports. Lagos or Onitsha?

Enzyhub:
Two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can claim title because WHO measures pollution in two different ways

The new WHO database of worldwide air pollution measures it in two different ways, and as a result two cities – one in Iran and another in
Nigeria – can lay claim to the unenviable title of world’s most polluted city.

It all comes down to which minute particles, or particulate matter (PM), in the air are being measured. These particles are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The coarser PM10s include dust stirred up by cars on roads and the wind, soot from open fires and partially burned carbon from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and wood. The particles are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.
More on this topic

People may be breathing in microplastics, health expert warns

But the ultra-fine particles known as PM2.5s can only be seen with microscopes and are produced from all kinds of combustion. These are small enough to get from the lungs into the blood supply and are possibly more deadly because they affect the cardiovascular system.

Many cities in developing countries traditionally monitor only PM10s. But increasingly PM2.5 pollution is seen as the best measure of how bad air pollution is for health. Richer countries usually have higher levels of PM 2.5s, while low income countries have higher levels of PM10s. Both, says the WHO, are deadly.

In 2013, two people died of heat exhaustion after a six-hour gridlock on the city’s bridge over the river Niger. Cars and trucks on the main road to Lagos belch fumes from burning low-quality diesel, and the air often stinks of burning waste from rubbish dumps, the smoke from old ships on the river and discharges from the metal workshops...

CONTINUE READING http://www.enzyhub.com/nigerian-city-is-the-world-most-polluted-cities-guess-which-city-made-it-to-the-no-1/

asha90:
Why the 2 conflicting report. Lagos or Onitsha?

Lol. Lagos was only mentioned by a sceptical Anambra state official who rejected the report. In any case, Willie na action man, he should see it as a challenge and tackle it. No biggie.

Lagos ... Kaduna and Ibadan nko ...imagine Bornu state with millions of people killed there they are still counting over 1 million. Doing the last election

Abagworo:
This recent and consistent mention of Nigeria and Afghanistan on same page is scary. Ihope and pray the West doesn't want to turn us into Afghanistan or Somalia.

It's becoming scary indeed. Just praying what I'm thinking is not about to happen.

Yyeske:
It's becoming scary indeed. Just praying what I'm thinking is not about to happen.

Biko what are you thinking o Hope say no be what me sef I'm thinking o.

Tdarry:
.

“We know pollution is very bad here. But this city must be much better than Lagos,” said Solomon Okechukwa, a sceptical Anambra state official, on Wednesday.



http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/12/which-are-the-worlds-two-most-polluted-cities-and-why

instead of this man to own up to the situation and seek solution, he is looking for co-travellers by pointing at Lagos.

Always thinking they are better than others, whereas realities stares them in the face. Now an international body has helped them wash their dirty linen in worldwide public.

this same freaks will still turn around to say yorubas are dirty.

shame on you.

bloodyBLOGGER:
instead of this man to own up to the situation and seek solution, he is looking for co-travellers by pointing at Lagos.

Always thinking they are better than others, whereas realities stares them in the face. Now an international body has helped them wash their dirty linen in worldwide public.

this same freaks will still turn around to say yorubas are dirty.

shame on you.

Yorubas are dirty in personal hygiene while this pollution research is about rapid growth of onitsha without proper govt attention. We have clarified this several times

what of all those Willie is working pictures

I thought Aba is even worse lol.

Where is fk081 aka

Pïïìïgs!

Ogbuefi2020:
Yorubas are dirty in personal hygiene while this pollution research is about rapid growth of onitsha without proper govt attention. We have clarified this several times

fool, how can your people who can't keep a clean environment maintain personal hygiene?

imagine maintaining personal hygiene while living in a place dirtier than a piggery. Just admit that your igbo people are also dirty, cos dirty people can be found in all tribes.

Ogbuefi2020:
Yorubas are dirty in personal hygiene while this pollution research is about rapid growth of onitsha without proper govt attention. We have clarified this several times

Coming from people who have Aba- the dirtiest city on planet earth. I guess the people who occupy the city laterine are yorubas

bloodyBLOGGER:
fool, how can your people who can't keep a clean environment maintain personal hygiene?

imagine maintaining personal hygiene while living in a place dirtier than a piggery. Just admit that your igbo people are also dirty, cos dirty people can be found in all tribes.

Lol he thinks he has sense. IPod logic

All you just need to do is spend 1 week in the East lol.
You'll know how filthy they are

bloodyBLOGGER:
instead of this man to own up to the situation and seek solution, he is looking for co-travellers by pointing at Lagos.

Always thinking they are better than others, whereas realities stares them in the face. Now an international body has helped them wash their dirty linen in worldwide public.

this same freaks will still turn around to say yorubas are dirty.

shame on you.

Illiterate. Same way Africans will label Beijing as dirty because it has a record high pollution rate compared to other developed cities in the world.
Do you even know what pollution is?
Do you even know the fucking differences between types of pollution and lack of personal hygiene.?

For goodness sake this is just pollution that is affecting all Nigerian major cities and world at large. So it is nothing on anyone nor state as it is a general thing.

The same report made this same assertion..mtchw!

However, the WHO also said on Wednesday that the pollution data from Onitsha was not necessarily reliable because it came from a single monitoring station.

“It is difficult to get accurate measurements in Africa. You can get super-high readings, but ideally the measurements should be done over a year to include different seasons and times of day. The reading in Onitsha may be representative but not altogether reliable,” said a WHO spokeswoman.

bloodyBLOGGER:
instead of this man to own up to the situation and seek solution, he is looking for co-travellers by pointing at Lagos.

Always thinking they are better than others, whereas realities stares them in the face. Now an international body has helped them wash their dirty linen in worldwide public.

this same freaks will still turn around to say yorubas are dirty.

shame on you.

learn to read and comprehend..they are talking of gas pollutions. Mostly from ships, cars and trucks. Only mention of dirt is "improper waste disposal system" which I admit that it still isn't world standard. Although no nigerian city is even as clean as osha, am not here to cast assertions.


Interesting to know onitsha is more populated than Lagos..wch means nigerian census lied

kaakulator3:


what of all those Willie is working pictures

I thought Aba is even worse lol.

Where is fk081 aka

Pïïìïgs!

Itiboribo isiaki, reread the passage again, digest it properly, before rushing to spew your hate.

It's funny how the Anambra guy in the article imediately asked why Onitsha instead of Lagos.

I also would have thought Lagos was more polluted.


The situation in Onitsha requires urgent State abd Federal govt attention.


One of the most corrupt countries in the world? Nigeria

The most polluted city on earth? Onitsha, Nigeria

One of the most unstable countries in the world? Nigeria


Absolutely little or no positives about this country.

bloodyBLOGGER:
fool, how can your people who can't keep a clean environment maintain personal hygiene?

imagine maintaining personal hygiene while living in a place dirtier than a piggery. Just admit that your igbo people are also dirty, cos dirty people can be found in all tribes.

Guy, who annoy you this morning?

Parishpriest:
Itiboribo isiaki, reread the passage again, digest it properly, before rushing to spew your hate.

my brother, I dunno if it's a people that can't read or if a large chunk of their population can't read. They read the first line and boom..they spilling their ignorance

Well thanks God Aba wasn't mentioned in this case if not the enemies would have ran with it.

raker300:
learn to read and comprehend..they are talking of gas pollutions. Mostly from ships, cars and trucks. Only mention of dirt is "improper waste disposal system" which I admit that it still isn't world standard. Although no nigerian city is even as clean as osha, am not here to cast assertions.


Interesting to know onitsha is more populated than Lagos..wch means nigerian census lied

Onitsha more populated than lagos? I swear there is nothing one won't hear on this Nairaland

kaakulator3:
Onitsha more populated than lagos? I swear there is nothing one won't hear on this Nairaland

Yes o. You gotta love Anambra peeps. They know how to put a spin on an unfavorable story and turn it on its head to their advantage.

FlyoruB:
Yes o. You gotta love Anambra peeps. They know how to put a spin on an unfavorable story and turn it on its head to their advantage.

I'd like to know the people who tell them these things i think its madness. This one is more than delusion

You see them throwing numbers all over the place. We are 70% of this, we control 95% of that. Where do they get these figures from

kaakulator3:
Onitsha more populated than lagos? I swear there is nothing one won't hear on this Nairaland

population is measured by number of persons per square meter. Onitsha is small but the number of people their are much. Lagos on a vast land doesn't compare. Stop laughing at your stupidity

raker300:
population is measured by number of persons per square meter. Onitsha is small but the number of people their are much. Lagos on a vast land doesn't compare. Stop laughing at your stupidity

You're even making matters worse Olodo oshi . Instead of you to admit you made an ignorant statement,
you're trying to twist it to appear smart No be only vast land.

It's simple, the population of Lagos is x3 that of Onitsha. I don't know why you're teaching economics here

raker300:
population is measured by number of persons per square meter. Onitsha is small but the number of people their are much. Lagos on a vast land doesn't compare. Stop laughing at your stupidity

tyou are talking about population density which is different from population.

Onitsha Amaka