Source International's recent research, based on data collected in august 2023, has focused on the environmental quality of river water and sediments in the Simón Bolívar district, Peru, to monitor mining activities’s impacts over the years.
The environmental study is the sixth of a series of independent environmental monitoring carried out since 2009 to inform the population and local and national institutions about the state of natural resource quality in the Pasco region.
The investigation has revealed 11 violations of Peruvian regulations on environmental protection in water resources within the Simon Bolivar District.
Highly toxic metals such as lead, manganese, zinc, and iron have been recorded in the Tingo and Ragra Rivers. At the same time, molybdenum has only been observed in water for human consumption in concentrations higher than national standards. Additionally, levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and zinc were recorded in sediment samples in the Ragra River at concentrations above international standards.
Within the Simón Bolívar district, the Ragra and theTingo rivers constitute the water resources most impacted by mining. The Ragra River, a tributary of the San Juan River, is being affected by the leachates and effluents generated by the Cerro SAC company, such as the mines, tailings dams, and exploitation activities and concentration. It is urgent to intervene to reduce the risk of toxicity throughout the food chain, considering that the San Juan River feeds the Junin Lagoon, a national reserve internationally recognized as a wetland and, flowing into the neighboring Junin province, transporting pollution to this agricultural production area.
We have shared in the last days the report with local autorities in order to demand urgent actions.
We are now planning to share the main results during an online webinar in the next upcoming weeks.
We are also programming our next mission to Pasco to go ahead with our campaign.
