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Keeping Toxics Out of the Samarkand Reservoir

Region: Central Asia, Kazakstan
Author: Vladislav Demyanovich Sannikov, Greenspace NGO
Consortium Member: ISAR Central Asia
Status: Completed - Final Report Budget: $346 Collected: $346 Needs: $0
Result: Local citizens were able to monitor and prevent mercury and phenol seepage into the Samarkand Reservoir and River Nur.
Donors: Anonymous Donor with Virtual Foundation Matching Funds [November 1997]
Comment: Supporting citizen monitoring efforts promotes public participation and democratization at the local level where real reforms first take root.

Group description:
Greenspace consists of teachers, technicians from the ISPAT metallurgical factory, and community activists. Our organization works to raise community awareness of the effects of local industry. We form relations with the local goverment and factory management so as to regulate and reduce harmful emmisions into the air, ground, and water.

Problem:
The ISPAT/Karmet Metallurgical Factory is a source of air,ground and water pollution in Temirtau, Kazakhstan. Among the toxic agents that presently affect the health of the residents are mercury and phenol. These potential pollutants are carried from the factory to the treatment plant through the city's municipal waste system, which runs along the Samarkand Reservoir, which in turn feeds the River Nur.

Greenspace has lobbied the factory and city government to take proper measures to maintain the city waste system. Without repair and supervision, the waste system leaks pollutants from the factory into the reservoir and the River Nur, which runs west into a national nature preserve.

Project Description:
Although some repair has been carried out on the system, members of Greenspace must continue to monitor the lines and pump stations of the waste system. Greenspace proposes to conduct ongoing measurements of seepage from the system into surrounding wetlands. We also plan to and organize meetings with local authorities and factory managers to prevent the large scale emission of phenol and mercury into the reservoir.

Budget: