KABWE, 9 November (IRIN): Kabwe, home to 300.000 people, is Africas most polluted city and has gained the dubious distinction of being ranked as the worlds fourth most polluted site, according to a survey published by the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based organisation monitoring pollution in the developing world.
In this toxic Zambian environment, Christine Mupika, barefooted and without any protective clothing, is just one of many scavenging Kabwes open quarries (miner) and old dump sites near the city centre every day for metals, coal and zinc to sell by the roadside.
Her high-risk occupation earns her about 25 US cent (ca. 2 DKR) for 25 kg of zinc and around 1,25 US dollar for the same quantity of coal; income derived from scrap metal sales depends on her bargaining abilities.
– If I do not work here, then I will not feed my five children at home, said Mupika, 52, whose husband died in 1995. – Much of my income comes from coal – sometimes I can sell two bags in one day, but zinc takes a bit longer to find a customer and it is not even profitable, said she.
Kabwe, Zambias second largest city, grew up around the 1902 discovery of lead (bly) deposits about 150km north of the capital, Lusaka, and became Africas largest lead mine. Veins of lead ore, with concentrations as high as 20 percent, were mined deep into the ground; smelting operations were established nearby and ran almost continuously until 1994.
Chernobyl in the Ukraine, which suffered the worlds worst nuclear accident in 1986, topped the list of most polluted sites, followed by the Russian city of Dzerzhinsk, where chemical weapons were produced during the Cold War.
Third on the list is the Dominican Republic town of Haina, where emissions from an old car battery smelter have caused almost the entire population of 85.000 to suffer from lead poisoning (blyforgiftning). Kabwe is ranked fourth.
“This smelting process in Kabwe was unregulated … and these smelters released heavy metals in dust particles, which settled on the ground in the surrounding area”, the institute said in its survey.
“The mine and smelter are no longer operating, but have left a city poisoned from debilitating concentrations of lead in the soil and water from slag heaps that were left as reminders of the smelting and mining era. In one study, the dispersal of lead, cadmium, copper and zinc in soil extended over a 20 km circumference (omkreds) from the smelting and mining processes. The soil contamination levels of all four metals are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organisation,” the survey went on.
Richard Fuller, director of the Blacksmith Institute, said environmental problems caused up to 20 percent of deaths in developing countries, but “the worst problem is the damage they do to childrens development, and that damages the future of the countries.”
Lead is one of the most potent neurotoxins and is particularly harmful to children and infants. It leads to attention deficit disorders and hearing impairment, and affects a child’s mental development; in pregnant women it can cross the placenta (moderkagen) and put an unborn baby at risk.
Medical experts say the lead levels in children should not exceed 15 microgrammes per decilitre, but lead concentrations of up to 300 microgrammes per decilitre have been recorded for children in Kabwe, with average levels in the blood ranging from between 60 and 120 microgrammes per decilitre.
Matildah Muyunda, who cares for her two grandchildren, told IRIN:
– My two children last month developed a terrible skin rash and blisters (vabler/blærer) which looked like chicken pox (skoldkopper). They could not eat for two days and when I took them to the hospital, I was told it was something to do with lead poisoning, but they were not given any medication until they (rash and blisters) disappeared on their own after some two weeks.
Soil testing in Kabwe revealed that lead levels around the closed smelter were as high as 245.000 microgrammes per decilitre (24,5 percent) while samples taken from residential backyards and surrounding areas have up to 38.000 microgrammes per decilitre (3,8 percent) lead content.
The recommended safety limit for an industrial site is a maximum of 2.000 microgrammes per decilitre (0,2 percent).
In Kabwe, the main cause of lead poisoning is believed to be inhalation (indånding) or ingestion (indtagelse) of airborne particles, dust from gardens and general play areas, food grown in contaminated soils, and dust created as people search the mine dumps for scrap metals.
– On three occasions I have been diagnosed with lumps (buler) in my chest, which doctors say are due to lead poisoning, and they always advise me to stop working here, but no one has ever given me any money to do something else, said Mupika.
– How do they honestly expect me to survive if I stop mining? I do this because I have no other means, added she.
Justine Mukosa of the Environmental Council of Zambia, a government watchdog, told IRIN:
– We are having to deal with a lot of pollution cases at the moment – not just in Kabwe but also across the Copperbelt Province because when most of these mines were opened, there were no stringent laws targeted at protecting the environment.
Environmental impact and assessment legislation compelling all mining companies in Zambia to adhere to environmental safeguards was introduced in 1997 – three years after the Kabwe mine closed.
– Somehow, the Kabwe lead pollution provided some insight into the extent of damage that mining activities were having on the environment, and it played a major role in the formation of the Act. But it is very difficult to work out a lasting solution to the problem because of its historic nature, unless it is for the new mines that are just coming up, Mukosa said.
Kabwes lead mine was run without pollution controls by the government-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) for most of its life before it became financially unviable and the smelter closed down.
An open canal that used to carry toxic waste from the lead mine pits and smelter when the mine was in operation passes through the three sprawling townships of Chowa, Kasanda and Katondo.
During the 2002 rainy season the canal flooded, spilling “several years” of toxic waste, silt (slam) and rubbish into the neighbouring communities. The vegetation, dusty soils and waterways are severely contaminated with heavy metals.
Yet scores of barefooted children play in the dusty soil of the three most affected communities.
– It is hard to change attitudes – we tell people not to allow children to play in the soil or, better still, to start greening their surroundings, but we are not seeing positive results as yet, said Mujinga Kamoto, an assistant manager at the Katondo information centre.
The centre is run by ZCCM Investment Holdings to increase awareness of lead poisoning in the area.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
