National Security Committee asked to prevent disposal of arsenic-containing waste at Zyryanovsk

Members of a monitoring group on implementation of Kazzinc project to dispose of arsenic-containing waste at Zyryanovsk tailing dump sent a request to the Department East Kazakhstan of the National Security Committee asking to prevent implementation of this project, KazTAG reports. “Kazzinc has started approving the project on disposal of arsenic-containing waste at the tailing dump located in Zyryanovsk. High pollution of ground water and soil with toxic substances, including heavy metals is registered in the area of the tailing dump in Zyryanovsk because of its emergency condition,” the request states. Besides, the experts say that the situation has been worsened by flooding of a former open pit in Zyryanovsk that caused the level of ground water to lift and made the hydrogeological situation in the area even more unpredictable. “Zyryanovsk is located in the quake-prone area. Ground water is currently unpredictable. Nobody can be sure that arsenic will not get into the ground water and then into the rivers,” a member of the monitoring group Maksim Proskuryakov said. According to the members of the monitoring group, the project implemented by Kazzinc “is dangerous and poses a threat for both Zyryanovsk region and the territories located lower along the Bukhtarma River and Bukhtarma water reservoir, which means it poses a threat to Kazakhstan's national security.” “We have sent a request to the head of Department Askar Akshayev. The project poses a threat to the national security and we hope that the department will take the necessary measures,” Proskuryakov said. Earlier Zyryanovsk public associations sent a request to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime-Minister Karim Massimov. It was signed by over 7 thousand people who asked the country's government to prevent disposal of 14 thousand tons of Kazzinc's arsenic-containing waste in the area and referred to high morbidity and mortality caused by disastrous ecological conditions in the region.