Romanian village submerged under toxic mining waste lake for nearly five decades

When the Roșia Poieni copper mine was planned in the late 1970s, the entire settlement of Geamăna was evacuated to construct a tailings lake for the mine’s waste. The promised financial benefits never materialised for the displaced families, and the area was transformed into a sprawling, toxic reservoir. Over the past 45 years, the sludge-filled lake has steadily risen, now engulfing former homes, schools, a cemetery and other community structures.

The only visible remnant is the upper part of the local church, jutting above the murky water. Each year the lake’s surface grows by roughly one metre, and only about twenty inhabitants remain in the surrounding valley, observing the ongoing environmental disaster.