Sep 1, 2015 1:30 PM

Gallery: The Russian Town Where Startling Pollution Is a Way of Life

Pierpaolo Mittica
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Karabash resident Tatiana explains the impossibility of breathing when the copper smelting plant is operating.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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A mountain of slag divides the city in two.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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Children playing in the town's abandoned buildings.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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Chemical spills from the plant.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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The hazardous mine was shut down in the 1980s, but was reopened again in 1998 due to the number of unemployed townspeople.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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Part of a nearby forest completely burned by chemical poisoning.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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The river Sak-Elga, where the smelting copper plant dumps its waste.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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A woman returns home from her shift at the plant.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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Chemical spills have been linked to many health problems with the local townspeople, including birth defects.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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The copper plant looms in the distance while toxic waste festers not far away.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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Parts of the city near the plant have been evacuated, but there are some who still live there.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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A look inside the copper smelting plant.

Pierpaolo Mittica
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An abandoned cinema in an evacuated neighborhood downwind of the plant.
Pierpaolo Mittica
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Forests, rivers and the soil all have an orange tint because of the residues from the processing of copper and iron.

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