Copsa Mica, May 26, 1008
Copsa Mica is probably Romania's most polluted town. A plant producing carbon black (for dyes) was established here in 1936 and consistently left everything - plants, laundry, people - covered in soot until it was finally closed in 1993; white snow was seen in 1994 for the first time in sixty years.
The other industrial plant here, the SOMETRA lead smelter, is more deadly; for thirty years it has been spraying a cocktail of twenty heavy metals over the surrounding area (and up to 50km away). Production has dropped by a third since 1990 - which has helped to reduce emissions, but has left five thousand men unemployed. Millions of dollars have been spent on filters and pollution control, dust levels have halved, and other types of pollution are now just one or two percent of previous levels.
Today the laundry can dry in the open without getting black in no time. Many houses are freshly painted. Even so it will be a long time before local people can safely eat the vegetables from their garden, before their health returns to normal - currently life expectancy is nine years below the national average and instances of tuberculosis and other lung diseases are two or three times higher than normal.
More information:
The People and Pollution of Copsa Mica