Unit 6 Russian Air Pollution

The soviet Union was not very considerate when it came to the environment in Russia. They believed that Russia's resources were so vast and their land so durable that they could simply dump whatever they wanted into the atmosphere. Not only do they have bad air and water pollution across the board, they also have serious nuclear waist issues and deforestation, let alone the soil pollution caused by the many gas leaks. In the 1990s alone it was reported that 231 out of 292 Russian cities were exceeding the limit for maximum permissible concentrations of particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide(countryissues.us/russia).

It has been loosely speculated that Russians do not live very long. After discovering that they still use leaded fuel and have very few regulations on harmful emissions produced by industry. The epicenters of this pollution are, not surprisingly but unfortunately, the metropolises with the most dense population such as Moscow, St. Petersburg and numerous others. These cities all are considered to have unsafe air. As of 1993, industrial emissions accounted for over half of the 43.8 million tons of pollutants discharged into the air, cars accounted for another 19 million tons It is estimated that only 15 percent of Russian citizens breathe safe air.

This problem does not seem to be improving. In the 1990s when Russian transportation was largely commercial, it accounted for one third of the air pollution in industrial areas; this was mainly caused by shipping trucks. With increasing private ownership of vehicles, it seems only to be worsening. Even today Russian vehicles still operate on leaded fuel. This problem needs to be stopped. There needs to be a stronger system of regulation to ensure better air quality. At the rate that Russia is going it could very well be the most polluted country in the world.