It ain't all roses

The Top 10 Worst Polluted Places

The Top 10 worst polluted places in the world are:

1. Chernobyl, Ukraine
2. Dzerzhinsk, Russia
3. Haina, Dominican Republic
4. Kabwe, Zambia
5. La Oroya, Peru
6. Linfen, China
7. Maiuu Suu, Kyrgyzstan
8. Norilsk, Russia
9. Ranipet, India
10. Rudnaya Pristan/Dalnegorsk, Russia

This morning I headed out to the third most polluted place on Earth (depending on the source and criteria for choosing), Haina, DR, which is only 20 minutes from where I live in Santo Domingo. Haina was the site for a battery recycling plant that didn't comply to legal guidelines and the levels of lead in the area are the main cause of contamination. Of course since it is a "factory" town the people that end up living there are often poor and without human basic needs, like clean water. On the drive we encountered a road block where the locals were burning tires and trash to protest the fact that they haven't had clean water for 40 days....

Forty days without clean water. There is a river that runs through the town and dumps into the ocean within the city limits. This morning a group of teachers from school decided to head out to the "beach" area for a clean up day. I didn't make it to the clean up part (I was running on Island time today) but I did make it to the get together after. One of the teachers lives in a mini paradise compound like house in the town and we met there after lunch. 

We decided to head down to the point where the river dumps into the ocean and here's what we saw...