Contamination of groundwaters by heavy metals in the city of Ust Kamenogorsk, north-eastern Kazakhstan

The north-eastern Kazakhstan is one of the largest high-grade base metal deposits worldwide. Long-term mining operations and processing of local ores has inflicted huge damage on the environment, which has resulted in extremely high concentrations of heavy metals in surface and groundwaters. The city of Ust Kamenogorsk is fully supplied with potable and industrial water from a Quaternary aquifer; however, the quality of this water has been endangered by local metallurgical plants for a long time. An analysis of the local sources of metal pollution has been done within an international project that aimed to improve surface and groundwater quality in the Irtych River basin.