What are America’s cleanest and most polluted cities? Who has the cleanest water, the most breathable air? The folks over at Realtor.com looked at 150 metros using a range of criteria which included toxic chemicals released from factories, Superfund sites, and air & water quality to come up with their Top 10 Clean and Polluted Cities. According to their findings, a pattern emerged: The cleanest cities are typically set amid agricultural communities, with a national forest and/or natural preserve and the most polluted cities are former industrial hubs in the Rust Belt and along the Gulf of Mexico. Go figure….
“Air quality has gotten much better because of preventions that were put into place under the 1970 Clean Air Act,” says Janice Nolen, assistant vice president of the American Lung Association. The federal law was designed to limit air pollution.
Top 10 Clean Cities:
- Naples, FL
- Salem, OR
- Ocala, FL
- Anchorage, AK
- Santa Rosa, CA
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Eugene, OR
- Little Rock, AR
- Salisbury, MD
- Salinas, CA
Top 10 Polluted Cities:
- Philadelphia, PA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Houston, TX
- New York, NY
- Chicago, IL
- New Orleans, LA
- Reading PA
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Milwaukee, WI
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