Millions of tons of contaminated coal ash from the Nikola Tesla Coal Power Plant lie in a vast shallow pit, 100 meters from the Sava River, which flows into the Danube twelve kilometers from this point. This site is one of the highly ranked “black spots” on Serbia’s polluters list. According to some measurements, the air above of city has unhealthy levels of carbon black (lampblack) for as much as a third of the year.

The toxic dump spreads over an area of 500 acres. Water sprinklers attempt to prevent the contaminated ash from spreading but are not very successful on a windy day. Lead and cadmium levels are found 2-10 times higher than permissible levels in the lower Danube. Cadmium levels peaked at the confluence of the Sava and Danube according to one study. Extremely high levels of the pesticide Atrazine in the Sava River prompted an emergency there in 2003.

Kosovska Mitrovica is considered one of the most polluted areas in Kosovo and is home to the Zvecan smelter, a part of the Trepca mining complex, made up of 40 mines that produce gold, silver, lead, zinc and cadmium. During its operation, lead levels in the city’s air and water reached up to 200 times more than World Health Organization guidelines. NATO peacekeepers closed the giant Zvecan lead smelter in August 2000 but the contamination left behind still poses a serious threat to the local environment and people’s health.

This project was initiated in late 2006 in dialogue between Blacksmith Institute and the Yunnan Environmental Protection Bureau. The key problem identified was the contamination of local water supplies, high in the headwaters of major river systems, by small abandoned metal mines and processing facilities. The local pollution problems are severe and, because heavy metals do not degrade in the environment, erosion of these materials adds to the cumulative pollution load on the river system. The objective was to develop practical approaches for a typical case, in collaboration with the Yunnan and local EPBs, which would be a model for other mountain villages with similar problems. The project was structured to provide direction and momentum for a wider effort by the Province to address mining pollution and water contamination challenges.

The focus of the work is on health impact for humans, since these sites discharge toxic metal contamination into local waterways that are sources of drinking water for local populations.

This project was initiated in late 2006 in dialogue between Blacksmith Institute and the Yunnan Environmental Protection Bureau. The key problem identified was the contamination of local water supplies, high in the headwaters of major river systems, by small abandoned metal mines and processing facilities. The local pollution problems are severe and, because heavy metals do not degrade in the environment, erosion of these materials adds to the cumulative pollution load on the river system. The objective was to develop practical approaches for a typical case, in collaboration with the Yunnan and local EPBs, which would be a model for other mountain villages with similar problems. The project was structured to provide direction and momentum for a wider effort by the Province to address mining pollution and water contamination challenges. The focus of the work is on health impact for humans, since these sites discharge toxic metal contamination into local waterways that are sources of drinking water for local populations.

Beginning in 1997, scientists were able to document the alarming fact that throughout the 1950s and ‘60s chemical weapons were dismantled, without proper environmental oversight, 10km northwest of the town of Leonidovka, in the Russian state of Penza Oblast. The polluted area covers 65,800 acres of forest, where the plantlife, soil, and water all tested positive for arsenic, dioxins, and heavy metals at levels that were hazardous to human health. Locals also fear that toxins have penetrated into groundwater supplies and can be pushed back to the surface after heavy rains.

Beginning in 1997, scientists were able to document the alarming fact that throughout the 1950s and ‘60s chemical weapons were dismantled, without proper environmental oversight, 10km northwest of the town of Leonidovka, in the Russian state of Penza Oblast. The polluted area covers 65,800 acres of forest, where the plantlife, soil, and water all tested positive for arsenic, dioxins, and heavy metals at levels that were hazardous to human health. Locals also fear that toxins have penetrated into groundwater supplies and can be pushed back to the surface after heavy rains.

A once-secret manufacturing center of the Soviet Union's defense industry, Dzerzhinsk (population 300,000) has hosted many chemical factories, including production facilities for Sarin and VX nerve gas. Lead additives for gasoline, mustard gas, munitions, and other highly-polluting products can also claim this city as their birthplace. While many of these factories are now closed, the chemical industry still employs over a quarter of local residents. The groundwater and soil around the city, about 250 miles east of Moscow, remain severely polluted with phenol, arsenic, dioxins, heavy metals, and a host of other toxins. Indeed, a dominant ecological landmark in the area is the “White Sea”, a 100-acre-wide lake of toxic sludge discharged from nearby factories.

Clearly, Dzerzhinsk faces huge challenges in managing this legacy of toxic wastes. It holds the ignominious title of "The Most Chemically Polluted Town" in the world. Greenpeace claims that the average life expectancy of city residents may have shrunk to a mere 45 years. The city's annual death rate, 17 per 1,000 people, is much higher than Russia's national average of 14 per 1,000. And, according to researchers at the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Hygiene and Occupational Pathology, rates of reproductive health disturbances affecting women and fetuses, as well as rates of respiratory and pulmonary diseases in children, are dangerously high. In study after study, the health impacts of these chemicals continue to dampen enthusiasm and drain resources needed for economic and social recovery in Dzerzhinsk.

While there are many pollution-related issues that cry out for investment and remediation in the city, water quality is of paramount importance. The Dzerzhinsk Committee of Environmental Control, a local government agency dedicated to finding solutions for pollution-related problems, has highlighted the degree to which the quality of drinking water in some residential areas of the city, damaged by years of discharge of as many as 150 separate toxic chemicals, does not come close to meeting safety standards. Despite this assessment, the city still draws its drinking water from the same aquifers abused by toxic wastes and unused products over many years.

One area of particular concern is the residential sector of Gavrilovka (population 1,000), about 2 miles away from a former tetraethyl lead production facility. Environmental testing conducted in 2002 by a Russian laboratory identified elevated levels of metals (e.g., lead, arsenic) and toxic organic compounds in the groundwater that serves as the primary source for residents' drinking water. Industrial wastewater discharges and solid waste leaching were identified as primary sources of groundwater contamination.

A once-secret manufacturing center of the Soviet Union's defense industry located 450 kilometers southeast of Moscow, Dzerzhinsk (population 300,000) has hosted many chemical factories, including production facilities for Sarin and VX nerve gas. Lead additives for gasoline, mustard gas, munitions, and other highly-polluting products can also claim this city as their birthplace. While many of these factories are now closed, the chemical industry still employs over a quarter of local residents. The groundwater and soil around the city, about 250 miles east of Moscow, remain severely polluted with phenol, arsenic, dioxins, heavy metals, and a host of other toxins. Indeed, a dominant ecological landmark in the area is the “White Sea”, a 100-acre-wide lake of toxic sludge discharged from nearby factories.

Clearly, Dzerzhinsk faces huge challenges in managing this legacy of toxic wastes. It holds the ignominious title of "The Most Chemically Polluted Town" in the world. Greenpeace claims that the average life expectancy of city residents may have shrunk to a mere 45 years. The city's annual death rate, 17 per 1,000 people, is much higher than Russia's national average of 14 per 1,000. And, according to researchers at the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Hygiene and Occupational Pathology, rates of reproductive health disturbances affecting women and fetuses, as well as rates of respiratory and pulmonary diseases in children, are dangerously high. In study after study, the health impacts of these chemicals continue to dampen enthusiasm and drain resources needed for economic and social recovery in Dzerzhinsk.

While there are many pollution-related issues that cry out for investment and remediation in the city, water quality is of paramount importance. The Dzerzhinsk Committee of Environmental Control, a local government agency dedicated to finding solutions for pollution-related problems, has highlighted the degree to which the quality of drinking water in some residential areas of the city, damaged by years of discharge of as many as 150 separate toxic chemicals, does not come close to meeting safety standards. Despite this assessment, the city still draws its drinking water from the same aquifers abused by toxic wastes and unused products over many years.

One area of particular concern is the residential sector of Pyra (population 4,000) where groundwater is also used as a major source of drinking water. The town is surrounded by swamps and the old local water treatment facility does not provide even an adequate level of groundwater cleanup. Drinking water tested was found to have ferrous-organic and fecal bacteria levels well above accepted safety standards. Compounding these problems, the aquifers that supply Piri also feed into groundwater that affects larger population centers as far away as St. Petersburg.

Since 1922, adults and children in La Oroya, Peru - a mining town in the Peruvian Andes and the site of a poly-metallic smelter - have been exposed to the toxic emissions and wastes from the plant. Peru's Clean Air Act cites La Oroya in a list of Peruvian towns suffering from critical levels of air pollution, but action to clean up and curtail this pollution. Currently owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation, the plant has been largely responsible for the dangerously high lead levels found in children's blood. Activities are now underway to curtail emissions and clean up legacy residual contamination. Ninety-nine percent of children living in and around La Oroya have blood lead levels that exceed acceptable limits, according to studies carried out by the Director General of Environmental Health in Peru in 1999. Lead poisoning is known to be particularly harmful to the mental development of children. A survey conducted by the Peruvian Ministry of Health in 1999 revealed blood lead levels among local children to be dangerously high, averaging 33.6 �g/dL for children between the ages of 6 months to ten years, triple the WHO limit of 10 �g/dL. Neurologists at local hospitals state that even newborn children have high blood lead levels, inherited while still in the womb. Sulfur dioxide concentrations also exceed the World Health Organization guidelines. Soil contamination is now being studied and a plan for clean up is in progress. Numerous studies have been carried out to assess the levels and sources of lead and other metals still being deposited in La Oroya. Limited testing has revealed lead, arsenic and cadmium soil contamination throughout the town. A detailed public health program has been implemented at the neighborhood level, focusing on children's health including bi-annual blood testing of all children. This has been operational for several years.

A copper smelter M/s Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin has several thousand tons of arsenic containing slag and phosphogypsum dumped on its premises. These wastes are inadequately stored and open to the elements. A National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) report dated 1998 indicates that there has been contamination of underground aquifers with arsenic and other heavy metals. The industry lies less than 25 kilometers from the Gulf of Munnar and NEERI had recommended that no further expansion should be permitted. However the industry has gone ahead and expanded its capacity to 300,000 tons per year despite not having permits to do so.

In 1997 the smelter in Tuticorin was forced to shut down due to gaseous emissions in the vicinity of the plant. It resumed production in mid-August as it was exonerated of blame for this gas leak but was closed again at the end of the month due to an explosion in a rotary holding furnace. It resumed operations in November.