According to the Dzerzhinsk committee of environmental control, the drinking water quality in some residential areas of the city does not meet minimal safety standards. The groundwater in this area was poisoned by Dzershinsk’s Cold War-era factories, chemicals and toxic residuals from those manufacturing sites are present in both ground and surface water. According to figures from the environmental agency, prior to 1998 almost 30,000 tons of chemical waste was disposed of haphazardly around the area for every year, with 190 separate chemicals being released into the groundwater. The city draws its drinking water from the same aquifers into which old wastes and unused products were pumped.
Following a baseline research project in 2004, Blacksmith, in cooperation with the local government funded the installation in 2006 of a water treatment system in the village of Pyra, a settlement whose groundwater is highly polluted yet remains the sole source of drinking water. In the longer term, Blacksmith hopes to support local groups and authorities in the design of a large-scale remediation and pollution migration of the area.
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