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Staßfurter Salzfee

The image shows the current "Salt-fairy" of Staßfurt, a representative of Staßfurt that is elected on a yearly basis by a comitee.

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Old tipping lorry with text: Glück auf!

The foto shows an old tipping lorry that was used for underground mining. It is now used as a monument to remember visitors of the long tradition of Salt mining in Staßfurt.

Text on the lorry: Glück Auf! Staßfurt - Wiege des Kalibergbaus

Staßfurt, Saxony-Anhalt Environmental health threats

Philipp Baum
Annotation of
In response to

1. Long-term threats, legacy of mining
- Unstable old salt mines below Stassfurt that have to be monitored and water flows have to be management to prevent ground movement
- so far, more than 800 buildings, including an 500-year old church had to be demolished. Currently, ground movement is under control
- 27 waste heaps and contaminted sites within the city that contain many very hazadous chemical compunds. They were never properly cleaned up

2. Long-term threats, ongoing causes
- by-products of salt mining and refining are collected in large landfills that leak salt into sorrounding areas. There are no plans how these landfills can be remediated, they have to be mananged indenfinitely
- soil erosion of arable land around the city by high intensity farming of crops for livestock production and bioenergy
- toxic waste produced by waste incarceration plant is pumped into former salt mining caves where it solidifies and becomes impossible to recover

3. Short term threats
- explosion in bionenergy plant in 2020
- leakage of ammonia at public street in 2014
- pollution of river bode with ammonia and chloride by CHIECH Soda, massive fish kills every summer
- air pollution, cause unknown, probably mostly by metalworks industry

Project: Environmental Injustice in Staßfurt

The city of Staßfurt in Saxony-Anhalt is shaped by disruptive processes of industrialization, de-industrialization and the hazardous legacy of past and contemporary mining projects.