An inventory of 31 TSFs, storing 160 million tons of waste and located in the basin of the transboundary river Dniester, was performed during 2018-2020.
Recommendations for state authorities, as well as for TSF-operators were developed pursuant to the inventory results.

The research of the current state of TSFs in the Donetsk and the Luhansk regions was conducted in 2020. The work was completed under the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine project “Strengthening Capacity for Water Monitoring and Management in Eastern Ukraine” in partnership with the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine and with assistance of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, the Luhansk Regional State Administration, the Siverskyi Donetsk Basin Water Administration.

Today, March 2, 2021, at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, representatives of competent authorities, international organizations and the expert community discussed the main technical and legislative aspects of TSFs identified under the research in the Donbass and the Dniester River Basin.

On December 1, 2020, an online seminar “Mine tailings safety in the UNECE region and beyond” was held. The seminar was organized as an accompanying event of the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (COP-11, Geneva and online, 7-9 December 2020).

The research results of environmental and technogenic safety of Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) in the transboundary Dniester River Basin were presented at the International Conference “European Integration and Management of the Dniester River Basin”, Chisinau, Moldova. The event took place on October 8-9, 2020 as an online meeting. The conference was organized by the International Association of River Guardians Eco-TIRAS and the GEF /UNDP /OSCE /UNECE Project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the Dniester River Basin”.

On December 19, 2019, OSCE consultants, Ecoplatform experts, presented the research results on 7 TMFs operation of 3 enterprises located in Donetsk region.

200 waste storage facilities of Donbass contain almost 1 billion tons of industrial waste from coal, metallurgy, energy, chemical and other industries. 75 objects are located in the government-controlled territory.

The researched TMFs are in the gray zone under the threat of military actions. Secure access to the objects is one of the main issue: the operational staff is unable to monitor, to inspect the structures' technical condition and to perform the repair work.

The inventory results of Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) located in the Dniester River Basin were presented on December 13, 2019 on the Dniester Basin Council meeting in Ivano-Frankivsk.

Today, there are 32 TSFs in the Dniester River Basin, containing ~160 million tons of waste from the oil and gas, energy and chemical industries.

The meeting of the National Water Policy Dialogue was held within the framework of the AQUA 2019 International Water Forum on November 5-6, 2019. The event took place in Kyiv, the conference hall of the International Exhibition Center.

At the end of October, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine organized a Press Tour and workshop on environmental journalism “Environmental Safety and Armed Conflict. What is happening and how to write / film / tell about it”. The event took place from 29 to 31 October 2019 in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, in the framework of the project "Assistance in the Donbas environmental monitoring system expansion" collaborated by the Zoï Environment Network and with the participation of the weekly WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (Switzerland). Iryna Nikolaieva, head of Ecoplatform, OSCE consultant, provided professional support in environmental safety issues of Donbas enterprises.

The parties of OSCE project “Assistance in the Donbas environmental monitoring system expansion” met today in Slovyansk town to discuss the current state of Donbas TMFs and their possible emergency impact on water bodies under the military actions.

On August 1, 2019, the stakeholders of the project “Assistance in the Donbas environmental monitoring system expansion” (hereinafter the Project) held a kick-off meeting at the Aarhus Information and Education Center. The event was held as a part of preparatory phase for project activity "Research of the current state of Donbas Tailings Management Facilities and their possible emergency impact on water bodies under the military actions".

In June 2019, the project “Assistance in the Donbas environmental monitoring system expansion” (hereinafter the Project) was launched. It continues activities towards the environmental safety in Eastern Ukraine and is supported by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

As a part of industrial waste management study in the Dniester River basin, GEF project experts initiated the meeting in the Boryslav town council (Lviv region) to discuss the oil product pollution of the Tysmenytsya River.

On July 5, Ecoplatform experts as OSCE consultants leaded by Iryna Nikolaieva acquainted the Moldovan colleagues with the TMFs' environmental issues of “Oriana‑ECO” enterprise (Kalush mining complex, Ivano-Frankivsk region).

Dniester Basin Council held the meeting on May 24, 2019 in Ivano-Frankivsk. The territorial and local authorities, public organizations, scientists and specialists in water management took part in the event. Our specialists presented the first research results on the Tailings Management Facilities (TMFs) located in the Dniester River Basin.

Commission on Sustainable Use and Protection of the Dniester River Basin (the Dniester Commission) held the second meeting on 4 and 5 April 2019 in Kyiv. Within the UNDP/ GEF/ OSCE/ UNECE project “Enabling transboundary co-operation and integrated water resources management in the Dniester River Basin” our specialists presented the first research results on the Tailings Management Facilities (TMFs) current state in the Dniester River Basin in 2018 and the plans for 2019.

Since 2017 the specialists of Ecoplatform LLC closely cooperate with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in dealing climate change issues.

At the final workshop all the development of the project will be presented. Participants will discuss also the proposals on follow up activities with the representatives of Competent authorities, German coordinating body on providing advisory assistance (UBA) and leading international and national experts on TMF safety.
Detailed program is under the link: Program of the Final Workshop

I.       Training objective

Training objective is to train the TMF operators, state inspectors, ecological auditors from different countries how to practically apply the “TMF Checklist” document.

Main results of the Ukrainian team work for now are in the following documents:

Tailing facilities problem is important today because of the presence of the large number of large-tonnage TMF in Ukraine. The vast majority of these objects was created over 50 years ago, without complying the basic rules of environmental safety.

The usual practice of building industrial TMF was using ravines, gullies, small rivers, partitioned off with dams. The bottom and sides of these TMF has not waterproof screens. These TMF are a source of pollution of rivers and groundwater. Around the large TMF groundwater of near-surface horizons are contaminated in the area of hundreds of square kilometers.

It should be noted that similar situation exists in other countries of the CIS and Eastern Europe. Accidents on such objects have already led to catastrophic situations in a number of European rivers and cause significant environmental damage to water reservoirs and the threat to the safety of population.