"Poisoned Ground: Secretly filmed footage shows Veolia pumping toxic pollutants into protected Colombian wetlands", 27 March 2025

...French multinational Veolia could be risking health impacts including birth defects by pumping toxins from a large landfill into protected wetlands in Colombia, a new Global Witness investigation has found...

Global Witness obtained a series of videos secretly filmed within the Veolia-managed site that show employees using electric pumps to dump untreated liquid pollutants, known as leachate.

We then commissioned tests of sediment samples, taken in September 2024 from points downstream of the leachate dumping seen in the videos, which revealed high concentrations of heavy metals – including mercury 25 times over safe limits.

Mercury exposure is associated with a range of serious health complications, including impacts on pregnant woman and infant brain development. Local people had previously sounded the alarm over malformations and illnesses in newborns and young children, which they believed to be linked to the landfill.

Veolia denied that any mercury contamination identified by the tests could result from their activities, sharing internal monitoring data which showed no presence of the heavy metal. The company disputed that Global Witness’s investigation showed "causality" between the video content and the sediment test results.

However, expert analysis commissioned by Global Witness – which found the videos showed “egregious and shameless malpractice” – concluded that Veolia’s testing was insufficient to allow the landfill to be ruled out as the source.;;

Veolia did not dispute the location of the leachate dumping. It did question whether the topography of the area would allow for contamination of watercourses or wetlands, a position flatly contradicted by evidence filed in previous court cases.

The firm told Global Witness: “We want to make it absolutely clear that our management has never authorised or instructed anyone to engage in the practices allegedly depicted in the video material provided.”

It said that it had filed a criminal complaint with the local Prosecutor’s Office, and also detailed “extraordinary measures” taken “to ensure environmental compliance at the site.”

These included “regular internal verifications exceeding regulatory requirements,” the implementation of additional security and training measures, and a request for additional inspections by the environmental authority.

Samples processed by nationally certified laboratories have always demonstrated heavy metals levels within the maximum permissible limits, Veolia said, adding that there are no pending environmental sanctions in respect of the landfill...