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Chemical exposure

What is in the air, water and land where you live.

Search a town, city or country. See measured air pollution, chemicals factories report releasing, bathing and drinking water results, contaminated sites and national figures, each with when it was measured, when the source published it and when we last checked it.

Use this tool on My Ideal World

34,191towns and cities indexed
12,112with local records
1,160,809source records
23official datasets
Method

The evidence behind the tool

This is a reference, not a ranking. Where our Throne Standard looks at ingredients or hazardous substances, these are the rules, datasets and studies that sit underneath.

Datasets

DatasetRecordsPublished or updatedLast checkedLimits
WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, version 8109,65328 Jun 202628 Oct 2026Coverage is not comprehensive. WHO says this database should not be used to rank cities or compare countries.
World Bank world development indicators5,1588 Oct 202628 Oct 2026National averages for water, sanitation, air, health and farming. They do not describe a town, a tap or a farm.
Australia National Pollutant Inventory, 2024/202549,62331 Mar 202628 Oct 2026Amounts facilities report releasing, in kilograms. Not a measurement of the air or water at a home.
California well inventory, August 1977 to 31 December 202479,5081 Dec 202528 Oct 2026Laboratory results from wells in California, from the corrected statewide file dated 1 December 2025. Not a test of a household tap.
Canada National Pollutant Release Inventory, 202459,55514 Apr 202628 Oct 2026Amounts facilities report releasing. Not a measurement of the air or water at a home.
Caribbean water results, including Hub'Eau for the French Caribbean and Guiana1,014Not separately supplied28 Oct 20261,014 published rows. Cayman is left out of this set because those mineral figures are already in the tap water minerals dataset. Not a test of your tap.
European bathing water status, 202522,2892 Jun 202628 Oct 2026Official bacteria results for designated bathing waters. Not a chemical test.
European industrial releases, February 202626,16820 Feb 202628 Oct 2026Amounts facilities report releasing to air and water under the industrial emissions and pollutant-release rules. Not a measurement at a home.
FAOSTAT pesticide use4,05230 Jul 202628 Oct 2026Country totals for pesticides used in farming. They do not say what any one farm sprayed.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency pesticide residues in food40,53222 Mar 202428 Oct 2026Laboratory tests from the CFIA pesticide-residue datasets we could read, across the years those datasets cover. Not a test of every product on a shelf.
USDA Pesticide Data Program, 202418,49023 Dec 202528 Oct 2026Laboratory tests from the 2024 programme, the latest year published when we checked. Not a test of every food sold.
England Pollution Inventory, 20248,16920 Nov 202528 Oct 2026Reported releases to air and to controlled waters in England, in kilograms. Not a measurement at a home.
UNEP GEMS/Water open-data subset, version 3212,1412 Feb 202628 Oct 2026The open-data subset of the freshwater archive, version 3. An earlier version had an overestimation error and is not the file used here.
Japan PRTR facility releases, financial year 2024143,7172026-0228 Oct 2026Amounts individual facilities report releasing. The source gives the publication as February 2026 and does not give the day. Not a measurement at a home.
PestiGlobal version 5, pesticides in water, soil and air118,18025 Feb 202628 Oct 2026Published study statistics from Huang and Li, not a test of your tap, soil or street.
Tap water minerals published by water suppliers3,257Not separately supplied28 Oct 2026Utility summaries for 512 places in 17 countries, not a sample from your kitchen tap. One Barbados figure is a tender reproduced by a third party; we could not verify the original host copy.
Chicago beach water, 2026 season1,8988 Oct 202628 Oct 2026Bacteria results (enterococci) for Chicago beaches. Not a chemical test.
US Superfund National Priorities List1,840Not separately supplied28 Oct 2026Sites on the official register. Being listed shows contamination was recorded and is being managed. It does not measure what reaches homes today. The source does not give a publication date.
New York City drinking water distribution monitoring, 202632,04515 Oct 202628 Oct 2026Samples from the city distribution system in 2026. Not a test of every tap.
US drinking water violations, community systems38,32114 Oct 202628 Oct 2026Health-based violations and testing-rule breaches at community water systems over five years. A violation means a rule was broken in that period. It does not mean the water is unsafe today.
Contaminants named in US Superfund decisions59,131Not separately supplied28 Oct 2026Names recorded in cleanup decision documents. Not a current measurement at a home. The source does not give a publication date.
US Toxics Release Inventory, 202468,5675 Nov 202528 Oct 2026Amounts facilities report releasing. The file includes forms processed as of 5 November 2025. Not a measurement at a home.
US EPA UCMR 5, PFAS and lithium in public water57,50115 Oct 202629 Oct 2026Detected results only, from 2023 to 2025. A system is placed at the middle of the ZIP codes it serves, so a result can describe a supply that also serves nearby towns. The values are for treated water at the sampling point, not every tap.
GeoNames towns and cities over 15,000 people34,19128 Oct 202628 Oct 2026A list of places, not of measurements. CC BY 4.0.

A record is matched to a town when the source names that town and lies within 30 km of it, or when the town is the nearest indexed place within 20 km of the record. Where a source gives no coordinates the town name must be unique in its country. Anything else is left unmatched. Zero is shown only when a source reports zero.

The rules that apply in Great Britain

GB CLP, classification and labelling

Hazardous chemicals sold in Great Britain carry GB CLP hazard pictograms, a red bordered diamond on a white background. There are nine: explosive, flammable, oxidising, gas under pressure, corrosive, acute toxicity, health hazard or hazardous to the ozone layer, serious health hazard, and hazardous to the environment (HSE).

UK REACH, substances of very high concern

Substances of very high concern go on the UK REACH Candidate List (HSE). Northern Ireland follows the EU list (ECHA). Under Article 33, if an article contains a Candidate List substance above 0.1% weight by weight, the supplier must tell a consumer who asks, free of charge and within 45 days (UK REACH Article 33).

COSHH, chemicals at work

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations require employers to identify hazards, assess exposure and control it (HSE). The same approach is a useful model at home.

Health guidance and research

Outdoor air. The WHO's 2021 guidelines set yearly averages of 5 µg/m³ for PM2.5, 15 µg/m³ for PM10 and 10 µg/m³ for nitrogen dioxide (WHO). Indoor air. UK guideline values for volatile organic compounds in homes (UKHSA). Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless (NHS).

StudyWhat it foundLimits
Zock JP and others, Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007;176(8):735 to 741. doiAmong 3,503 adults in 10 countries, weekly spray use was linked to new asthma symptoms or medication (RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.99). Non spray cleaning products were not.Observational; use self reported
Svanes Ø and others, Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2018;197(9):1157 to 1163. doiWomen cleaning at home or working as cleaners had faster decline in lung function than women not cleaning.Observational

Questions

What does this tool measure?

It brings together published measurements and official records: yearly air pollution averages from WHO monitoring data, chemicals that factories report releasing, bathing and drinking water results, contaminated site registers, published tap water mineral figures, pesticide studies, and national figures for water, sanitation, air, farming chemicals, energy and health. It does not test your home, your tap or your food.

Why does my town say it has not been measured?

Most towns in the world have no public monitoring station or published local test. We say so rather than filling the gap. Where a place with records lies within 50 km we show its figures and say how far away it is.

What do the three dates mean?

Measured is when the measurement or figure applies. Published or updated is the date the source released or last updated the dataset, where the source states one; if it does not, we say "Not separately supplied". Last checked is when Hold The Throne last retrieved the source.

What law gives me the right to ask about chemicals in a product?

In Great Britain, UK REACH Article 33. If an article contains a Candidate List substance of very high concern above 0.1% by weight, the supplier must tell a consumer who asks, free of charge and within 45 days, including at least the name of the substance.

Is this medical advice?

No. If you think someone has been poisoned, get medical advice immediately, call 999 in an emergency, or call NHS 111 if you are not sure.

Spotted a source we should add? Tell us.