Abstract :
Mining and metallurgical industries cause great devastation of both terrestrial and aquatic environments on a local and regional scale. Mines and smelters produce large quantities of wastes, which must be deposited on land or in aquatic systems. The major effects are due to pollution of air, soil, river water, and groundwater with heavy metals. The most endangered surficial flows are the upper courses of both the Vistula and Odra Rivers, whose increase in concentrations of contaminants—mainly heavy metals + chloride ions — must be regarded as alarming. About 50% of surficial flows do not even meet the standards for quality class III. In 1990 the volume of wastes produced by the mining and processing industries was more than 660 million tonnes of spoil and over 490 million tonnes of tailings. It is estimated that in the period 1984–2000 about 900 million m3 of spoil will be dumped in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin alone. Taking into account emission of dusts and gases and the volume of dumped wastes including sewage per km2, 27 ecologically endangered regions have been distinguished. Mining and smelting districts make up almost half of these regions.
