[en] One of the basic sectors of the economy in Tajikistan is the mining industry. Its development in the past led to an accumulation of large amounts of waste mainly associated with the uranium milling facilities. These wastes contain radionuclides in high concentrations (basically uranium-thorium series) and other hazardous substances. These facilities are often located in residential areas and in the upper side of the main watersheds of the region, such as Amu-Daria and Syr-Daria. Presently the only operating enterprise in the Republic of Tajikistan, which still has the potential to process Uranium ores, using an acid leach extraction process, is the State Enterprise (SE) 'Vostokredmet'. Illegal excavation and collection of non-ferrous metals from areas of tailings and waste rock piles and mines has become more frequent. This creates serious concerns over transfer of contamination as well as the exposure of the individual diggers. There is concern that these metals are sold on at local, illegal, markets in Tajikistan or even transported abroad. According to the data obtained during the IAEA mission of 2006 the high gamma dose rates measured on the tailing surface (4.5-20 μSv·h^-1) were significantly higher than the reasonable safety levels permitting public access to the area. In the previous studies carried out by SE 'Vostokredmet' it was revealed that there is a significant contamination of ground waters with sulfate ions, thus implying a possible contamination with radionuclides from the accumulated tailings materials. The main macro-ions of technogenic contamination, including the radionuclides are within the sulphate plume characterized by increased mineralization. The spatial distribution within the plume is in direct relationship to the degree and range of formation of the contaminants. This peculiar property of ground water contamination was applied by the specialists of SE 'Vostokredmet' for studying the aureole of distribution of the contamination using geophysical methods of electro-sensing (Bezzubov et al, 2005). The results obtained with this method in 1994 and later in 2003 are the only observations; these can predict dispersion of the polluted groundwater front on the way toward the river. The potential propagation of the groundwater contamination was estimated using mathematical modeling. This evaluation (Koptelov et al., 2005) show that in recent times the contamination plume has gone from the tailings on the surface and is moving toward the Khoja-Bakyrgan and Syr Daria Rivers. The contamination plume consists of several lenses containing highly concentrated sulphate and soluble uranium. The specifics of the situation need a more detailed analysis. According to model forecasts the contaminated ground water from the tailings site will discharge into Syr Darya and subsequently may be used by the local residents for irrigation of orchards and horticultural crops. Under these circumstances it would be prudent to evaluate and predict the development of the ground water quality near the Degmay tailings pond from the point of view of a potential risk to humans using the water for irrigation. (author)