Polluted Places

Guidelines for Site Nominations

The following guidelines will help you to nominate a site that meets the criteria of Polluted Places.

We are looking for sites:

where primarily point-source pollutants are causing substantial and preventable health problems;
that lack an existing and capable clean-up effort;
located in communities that demonstrate sufficient capacity and interest to make remediation feasible;
and where there can be reasonable expectations of success.

Though we recognize that urban sewage and solid waste are enormous problems in developing and transitional countries, we are not currently working in these areas and do not accept such nominations.

Examples of sites that could be considered for the Polluted Places initiative include:

a former mining town where residents suffer from highly elevated blood lead levels due to soil contamination (Kabwe, Zambia);
a city where a cluster of tanneries is polluting the groundwater (Kanpur, India);
a city where radioactive material was dumped illegally on to a public beach (Magadan, Russia).

Anyone may nominate a site. We especially invite nominations from multilateral agencies, local and national governments, international and local environmental NGOs, private foundations and individuals with expertise (technical, legal, etc.) in pollution remediation.

Please use the Polluted Places Nomination Form to provide as much information as possible about the sites you wish to nominate. (View a sample form.)

You will receive an email from Polluted Places acknowledging receipt of your nomination. Our staff and Technical Advisory Board will review the nomination and determine if your site is eligible for the next step, the Initial Site Assessment (ISA). This on-site assessment will enable us to evaluate the extent to which we can make a practical contribution to assist local groups in solving the pollution problem. During the ISA, we will meet with relevant local agencies and most likely the nominator to explore and adopt a common methodology for implementing a timely and practical solution.

If your nomination does not move on to an ISA, we will send you an email explaining why, and if you are interested, try to work with you to find an appropriate resource to help you further.

For more information please contact Polluted Places at:

Address:

Phone:

Email:

info@pollutedplaces.org