What is happening to the water?
Compare water surfaces over time and connect visible runoff, unusual colours, or deposits with local reports and field measurements.
For the places we share
The landscape
has a story.
Let’s read it together.
Long after a mine closes, life around it goes on. CONTAMINE connects people, satellite observations, and field evidence to understand how these places are changing.
LOOK, TOGETHER
Mining landscapes. Shared understanding.
Illustrated landscape · not a monitored location
Explore the ideaWhy these places matter
Mining ends.
The story doesn’t.
A closed mine is still part of someone’s everyday landscape.
It may sit above a village, beside a footpath, or upstream from the water people know. Rain still falls on waste deposits. Streams carry water through the valley. Land can recover, erode, or change in ways that deserve a closer look.
People nearby see these places every day. Researchers and environmental teams study them through images, measurements, and site records. Often, those pieces of knowledge stay apart.
This is where
CONTAMINE comes in.
A platform for environmental monitoring
and public reporting.
CONTAMINE brings local observations, satellite information, and field measurements into a shared record of a place. It helps communities and professionals see what has changed, understand the evidence, and follow what happens next.
Instead of a photograph in one place, a technical report in another, and an unanswered question in between, the information can be connected by location and time.
Small observations. A bigger picture.
Someone notices.
Understanding begins.
You don’t need to know what caused a change to describe what you saw. A useful starting point can be as simple as a place, a date, and a few words.
“The water looks different
from last week.”
An illustrative observation — and the start of a question.
How the platform connects the pieces
1Give the observation a place.
A resident, a walker, or a local association records what they noticed, where, and when. A photograph can help someone else understand the same moment.
The report becomes part of that place’s history, where it can be found alongside other observations.
What was seenA change in water colourUseful contextLocation · date · description · optional photo
2Bring the evidence together.
Environmental teams can look at the report alongside earlier observations, information about nearby mine waste, satellite images, and available field measurements.
A single photograph can raise a question. The wider record helps show whether something has changed over time and what needs a closer investigation.
Local observationSite historySatellite informationField evidence
3Keep the next steps visible.
A reviewer may ask for more information, suggest a field check, or connect the observation to work already taking place. New measurements and documented actions stay attached to the same history.
For the community, that means being able to return to a concern and see what followed. For professionals, it means a clearer record of evidence and decisions.
- Observation recorded
- Evidence reviewed
- Follow-up documented
An example of the reporting journey. This website introduces the project; reporting will be part of the platform.
Local knowledge belongs
in the conversation.
Residents, hikers, and community organisations bring familiarity with a place. Researchers, consultants, and rehabilitation teams bring methods and measurements. CONTAMINE gives those perspectives a way to meet, with professional review and a record people can return to.
The places behind the questions
A pond.
A hillside.
A place called home.
Our initial focus is Maramureș, Romania: closed mines, tailings ponds, mine-waste deposits, and the watercourses and communities around them.
Each place has its own history. We’re connecting the information that helps people understand its present — and follow its future.
Starting in northern Romania.
Built around questions shared by mining regions.
Built around questions shared by mining regions.
How is the land recovering?
Follow vegetation, exposed ground, and erosion alongside records of rehabilitation work, so change can be seen in its context.
Where is the ground changing?
Use suitable radar observations and specialist interpretation to help identify movement around slopes and embankments that needs closer assessment.
What do we know about mine waste?
Bring together records of deposits, their surroundings, and assessments of containment, rehabilitation, or responsible resource recovery.
Satellite information includes Copernicus Sentinel-2 optical imagery and Sentinel-1 radar, interpreted alongside local observations and available field measurements.
Where we are now
An idea, tested.
A platform taking shape.
The project’s scope is defined, and field and desktop feasibility work is complete. The current focus is bringing the platform’s connected services together.
- 01✓ Completed
Project definition
The environmental scope, intended users, information sources, and reporting approach are defined.
- 02✓ Completed
Field and desktop feasibility
Field and computer-based feasibility work has been completed to assess the proposed approach.
- 03Current focus
Platform implementation
The next development work brings reporting, geographic records, satellite processing, and professional review into one service.
- Reporting interface
- Geospatial database
- Satellite processing
- Review workspace
Behind the name
Contamination.
Mine.
CONTAMINE.
Better understanding starts
with a shared view.
Our name brings together the environmental questions and the places at the heart of the project. Our approach brings together the people who care about them.
CONTAMINE is an initiative by THE GLO DIS, based in Baia Mare, Romania, working across software, geographic information, and environmental research.
Meet THE GLO DIS