After China and Indonesia, Colombia is the third country in the world with the highest contamination by this heavy metal.
was delivered the first temporary mercury storage unit in Colombia and Latin Americawhich will allow the responsible collection of the metal that is seized by the authorities or recovered from traces of mine tailings.
For the Attorney General of the Nation, Margarita Cabello Blanco, The delivery of this unit marks a historic moment in the management of waste from mining activity and mercury as a polluting substance, in addition to being the result of an inter-institutional effort between the control entity, the Regional Autonomous Corporation for the Defense of the Bucaramanga Plateau – CDMB, the United States Department of State and the Pure Earth Organization.
The department of Santander is the first region in Colombia that will be in charge of storing mercury.
This unit has a capacity of up to 300 liters of exclusive temporary storage of metallic mercury, a first step to promote the responsible disposal of mercury in the country and with it, reaffirm Colombia’s commitment to the Minamata agreement.
According to attorney Cabello, the Public Ministry has insistently and persistently led its efforts to guarantee the protection of the environment and the collective rights of the country’s communities, by reducing and eliminating the use of mercury.
Likewise, he stressed that these results are expected to begin to be replicated throughout the national territory, especially in Antioquia, Córdoba, Chocó, Cauca, Nariño, Bolívar, Valle del Cauca, regions most affected by contamination with this metal and for Colombia to stop being one of the most mercury polluting countries in the world.
The control entity, through the delegate for Environmental, Mining, Energy and Agrarian Affairs, warned that, according to the 2014 Ideam National Water Study, more than 205 tons of mercury were released into the soil and river water in the Colombian national territory in 2014. Likewise, it is estimated that according to data from the DNP and the INS in 2018, 1,150 water sources cross municipalities with the presence of illegal gold mining. Of these, 232 water sources pass through locations where there were cases of mercury poisoning.
The project had the support of the ministries of Mines and Energy and Environment and Sustainable Development, in addition to the support and participation of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, a strategic entity for the articulation of processes of knowledge transfer and appropriation by miners and territorial environmental entities.