Adopted by countries around the world in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals are the overarching road map for human development until 2030. These Goals consist of the triple bottom line people, prosperity and planet. A key component of this strategy is using nature to address societal problems benefiting both people and the planet. These nature-based solutions (NBS) seek to protect, manage and restore natural ecosystems effected by human activities. While such an approach may seem rather obvious, traditional high-tech engineering approaches are oftentimes used, which can be expensive, require regular maintenance and expertise, and short term. NBS can be beneficial with the availability of space and time for them to be implemented and made effective.
TAUW Engineering Firm together with the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute at Narxoz University (supported financially by the TAUW Foundation with co-financing from other private investors) has been collaborating to determine effective means for dealing with industrial waste in the past few years, particularly in the industrial sector. The previous work consisted of dealing with air born dust deriving from mine tailings using the method of ‘phytocapture’. This method has been successfully implemented with several mines in Central Asia, providing a direct and positive impact to reducing dust pollution and improving public health. This work has received international attention and was presented as a best practice for the UNECE Convention on Industrial Accidents and Mine Safety in 2022. Moreover, it was widely covered in the international press including Yahoo Finance News and Forbes Magazine.
To further this field of work, the SKRI and its partners at TAUW teamed up to research how NBS can be applied to industrial waste water. Our team gained permission from the shareholders of two mines in Central Asia (one in Kazakhstan and one in Kyrgyzstan) to conduct field visits and develop various designs to address mine tailing waste water. This report will summarize potential designs that could be widely applied to industries around the world. In the report you will find a step by step methodology on how to design and implement an NBS along with three prototype design examples deriving from our field research; Example 1: Heavy metal in perennial surface waters; Example 2: Sea spray from liquid tailings; Example 3: Remediation of soil contamination that can migrate into water channels.
This research has used real world examples to prove the utility of NBS to mine tailing waste water. While these options may not always ‘solve the problem’ they can have a significant impact in reducing the pollution loads in water ways. Thereby, positively impacting the local environment both within the mine operations and also those environments directly adjacent to the mine operations. We encourage the further exploration of these methods and their application within the mining sector. Not only to improve the environment and support human health, but to make a major contribution to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals world-wide. Our findings support the broader application of these methods not only in Central Asia, but around the globe as a lost cost, nature based, means of dealing with pollution derived from the industrial sector. We hope industry, government, private sector and academia will find this work useful and encourage their application in this respective sector through financing, regulatory guidelines and implementation for the benefit of people, prosperity and planet.
To learn more come join our international conference which will take place online on Nov. 2nd from 14:00-17:00. Please register with the following link (https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsdOuuqzgoH9WyiX8BgrEyWBQNReDPJiar). Confirmed high level speakers include the President of Narxoz University, Miras Daulenov; Mr. Mereke Pshembaev, Vice Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Ms. Claudia Kamke Environmental Affairs Officer, UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, TAUW Engineering Firm representatives, among others.
Attached is the link to our publication in Kazakh, Russian and English languages.
TAUW Engineering Firm together with the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute at Narxoz University (supported financially by the TAUW Foundation with co-financing from other private investors) has been collaborating to determine effective means for dealing with industrial waste in the past few years, particularly in the industrial sector. The previous work consisted of dealing with air born dust deriving from mine tailings using the method of ‘phytocapture’. This method has been successfully implemented with several mines in Central Asia, providing a direct and positive impact to reducing dust pollution and improving public health. This work has received international attention and was presented as a best practice for the UNECE Convention on Industrial Accidents and Mine Safety in 2022. Moreover, it was widely covered in the international press including Yahoo Finance News and Forbes Magazine.
To further this field of work, the SKRI and its partners at TAUW teamed up to research how NBS can be applied to industrial waste water. Our team gained permission from the shareholders of two mines in Central Asia (one in Kazakhstan and one in Kyrgyzstan) to conduct field visits and develop various designs to address mine tailing waste water. This report will summarize potential designs that could be widely applied to industries around the world. In the report you will find a step by step methodology on how to design and implement an NBS along with three prototype design examples deriving from our field research; Example 1: Heavy metal in perennial surface waters; Example 2: Sea spray from liquid tailings; Example 3: Remediation of soil contamination that can migrate into water channels.
This research has used real world examples to prove the utility of NBS to mine tailing waste water. While these options may not always ‘solve the problem’ they can have a significant impact in reducing the pollution loads in water ways. Thereby, positively impacting the local environment both within the mine operations and also those environments directly adjacent to the mine operations. We encourage the further exploration of these methods and their application within the mining sector. Not only to improve the environment and support human health, but to make a major contribution to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals world-wide. Our findings support the broader application of these methods not only in Central Asia, but around the globe as a lost cost, nature based, means of dealing with pollution derived from the industrial sector. We hope industry, government, private sector and academia will find this work useful and encourage their application in this respective sector through financing, regulatory guidelines and implementation for the benefit of people, prosperity and planet.
To learn more come join our international conference which will take place online on Nov. 2nd from 14:00-17:00. Please register with the following link (https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsdOuuqzgoH9WyiX8BgrEyWBQNReDPJiar). Confirmed high level speakers include the President of Narxoz University, Miras Daulenov; Mr. Mereke Pshembaev, Vice Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Ms. Claudia Kamke Environmental Affairs Officer, UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, TAUW Engineering Firm representatives, among others.
Attached is the link to our publication in Kazakh, Russian and English languages.