Eradicating Ground Pollution In Cities: Skylines

In the city-building game Cities: Skylines, players must manage various aspects of their city, including pollution. While it is challenging to eradicate pollution entirely, players can employ several strategies to reduce and manage ground pollution. Ground pollution is primarily caused by industry, with factories and other industrial buildings being significant contributors. To mitigate this, players can separate industrial areas from residential and commercial zones, ensuring that pollution does not directly affect the health of citizens. Additionally, players can transition their industries to forestry or agriculture, as these sectors produce minimal ground pollution. Spreading out industrial zones and allowing them to develop into high-tech industries can also help reduce ground pollution. While trees and parks are often suggested as solutions, their effectiveness in reducing ground pollution is debated by players. Removing the sources of pollution, such as incinerators and landfills, is another effective strategy, but ground pollution may persist for some time even after the source has been eliminated.

How to fix ground pollution in Cities: Skylines

Place polluting buildings away from residential areas

In Cities: Skylines, ground pollution is mainly caused by industry, with other polluting buildings including fossil-fuel power stations, incinerators, and garbage dumps. Even after removing the source of pollution, it will take time for the ground to become unpolluted again.

To prevent ground pollution from affecting residential areas, it is important to place polluting buildings away from residential zones. This spatial separation will help minimize the negative impact of pollution on the health and well-being of citizens.

One strategy is to create specialized districts for industries that do not cause pollution, such as farming and forestry. By reaching the Worthy Village milestone, players can unlock the ability to create districts with these specializations. While some buildings in the Industries DLC within these sectors do produce pollution, they generally contribute less pollution compared to other industries.

Another approach is to allow industrial buildings to upgrade. Upgraded industrial buildings tend to produce less pollution than their level one counterparts. For example, by spreading out your industry and achieving a high level of education, you can place small industrial zones around your city, leaving ample space between them. These zones are more likely to develop into high-tech industries, which produce significantly less pollution.

Additionally, players can utilize the Eden Project monument to contain pollution within the buildings. While industries will still generate ground pollution, the monument prevents it from spreading to neighbouring buildings. This not only keeps pollution localized but also increases land value across the entire map, leading to faster development of buildings to their highest levels.

Use the Pollution Remover mod

If you're looking to remove ground pollution in Cities: Skylines, one option is to use the Pollution Remover mod. This mod allows you to disable all kinds of pollution, including ground pollution, without affecting other mods that you may have installed.

While some players have reported issues with the Pollution Remover mod resetting to default settings upon loading a save file, this mod can still be a useful tool for managing ground pollution in your city. If you're looking for other options, there is also a "Game Anarchy" mod that has been recommended by players to disable pollution as a mechanic in the game.

It's important to note that some players have expressed concerns about the realism of completely removing pollution from their cities. In reality, achieving a city with zero pollution is highly unlikely, even with the use of mods. One player suggested that spreading out industrial zones and focusing on education can help grow industries into high-tech sectors, reducing pollution output significantly.

Additionally, the Eden Project monument can help contain pollution by preventing it from spreading to neighbouring buildings. While this doesn't remove pollution entirely, it can help manage the issue without resorting to mods. Ultimately, the decision to use mods or not depends on your personal preferences and playstyle.

Remove the source of pollution

To remove the source of ground pollution in Cities: Skylines, players must identify and address the root causes of pollution. While it is challenging to achieve a city with zero pollution, implementing various strategies can help minimize its impact.

Firstly, it is essential to understand that specific buildings and industries are significant contributors to pollution. These include factories, power plants, incinerators, and garbage dumps. To eliminate pollution at its source, players can consider demolishing or relocating these highly polluting structures. However, this may not always be feasible, especially if they are crucial for the city's economy and development.

Another effective strategy is to transition to less polluting industries. By investing in education and promoting high-tech industries, players can encourage the growth of advanced industries that produce minimal pollution. These industries are more desirable when placed near other city services and can help reduce the overall pollution levels in the city.

Additionally, players can focus on spreading out their industrial zones. By creating smaller 2x2 industrial areas with adequate spacing between them, players can prevent pollution from concentrating in specific areas. This distributed approach to industrialization can help dilute the impact of pollution on any single region.

While managing ground pollution, it is also crucial to consider water pollution. Wastewater should be directed downstream from the city's water pumping stations to minimize the impact on the water sources used for pumping drinking water. Proper wastewater management, including the use of water treatment plants, can help reduce water pollution and its associated health risks for citizens.

Lastly, players can utilize the Eden Project monument, which prevents pollution from spreading to neighbouring buildings. This can help contain pollution within the industrial areas and protect nearby residential and commercial districts.

Build parks to reduce noise pollution

To fix ground pollution in Cities: Skylines, you must first understand that you will never get a city with zero pollution. The only way to achieve that is by using mods, such as the Pollution Remover mod. However, you can take several steps to minimize ground pollution and its impact on your city.

One way to reduce ground pollution is to spread out your industry. By placing small industrial zones with adequate spacing between them, you can encourage the growth of high-tech industries that produce minimal pollution. Additionally, you can use the Eden Project monument to prevent pollution from spreading to neighbouring buildings.

Now, let's focus on the topic of building parks to reduce noise pollution. Noise pollution, caused by wind turbines and traffic, can have negative effects on your citizens, including sickness and abandonment of buildings. To mitigate this, placing parks and trees can be an effective strategy. Here are some ways to incorporate parks and nature to reduce noise pollution:

• Large Parks in Strategic Locations: Place large parks around your city, especially near busy intersections in residential areas. This can help absorb sound and create a buffer between noise-polluting sources and residential zones.
• Tree-Lined Roads: As your population grows, you will unlock tree-lined roads. These roads not only enhance the aesthetics but also significantly reduce noise pollution. Place these roads in high-traffic areas or locations with significant noise pollution.
• Highways with Sound Barriers: In addition to tree-lined roads, you will eventually unlock the ability to build highways with sound barriers. These highways can help block and reduce the spread of noise pollution.
• Public Transportation: Shifting focus to public transportation can also help reduce noise pollution. Encourage the use of public transport, and develop sea ports and cargo train routes to reduce the number of cargo trucks on the roads.
• Parklife Expansion: Utilize the Parklife Expansion to your advantage. This expansion pack allows you to use trees to buffer against noise pollution. Plant trees strategically, especially in areas with high noise pollution levels.

By implementing these strategies and incorporating parks and nature into your city design, you can effectively reduce noise pollution and create a healthier and more pleasant environment for your citizens in Cities: Skylines.

Use water recycling plants to reduce water pollution

While it is impossible to achieve a city with zero pollution in Cities: Skylines without the use of mods, there are several ways to reduce ground pollution. One way is to ensure that your education level is high enough to grow your industry into high-tech industries, which produce next to no pollution. Another way is to use the Eden Project monument, which prevents pollution from spreading to neighbouring buildings.

To address water pollution, you can use water recycling plants, also known as inland water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, or water towers. These plants reduce water pollution by 85% and are a good option if you have the funds available. They function similarly to water drain pipes but are more expensive to build and maintain, and have higher power consumption. However, they process 33% more waste and emit only 20% of the water pollution that straight drain pipes do.

If you are low on funds, you can consider relocating or rebuilding your water recycling plants to optimise their effectiveness. Alternatively, you can move the drain pipes around to redirect the pollution, or wait until you can invest in upgraded, eco-friendly versions of drain pipes or treatment plants, which are more efficient in reducing waste in sewage. For example, the eco-friendly version of the water treatment plant, which becomes available once your city grows into a "Capital City", flushes out 94% of waste in sewage.

To avoid water pollution altogether, you can build all pollution-producing industries and buildings away from bodies of water and use inland water treatment plants instead of water drain pipes. Water pollution is primarily caused by sewage, so it is ideal to zone industrial areas away from bodies of water. Additionally, some buildings like garbage landfills and coal power plants indicate a waste pollution radius, so ensure that no bodies of water are within this radius.

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