Overview
The Pasvik River is one of the largest in Fennoscandia. The River is 170 km long with a catchment area size of 20890 km2, of which 69.8% belong to Finland, 25.2% to Russia and 5% to Norway. The upper (southern) part of the catchment mainly includes the Inari Lake in Finland, while the catchment area on the Russian side of the Kuetsyarvi Lake dominates with the largest tributary, Shuoniyoki River, coming from the south-east. In addition, Kolosjoki Stream drains the area surrounding Nikel before entering Keutsyarvi Lake. The riverbed of Pasvik River passes along the Norwegian and Russian border. Water chemistry of the Pasvik River is stable until mixing with runoff from the Kuetsyarvi. The reference area is situated in the northern end of the river, where the river constitutes the border between Norway and Russia.

Northern territories represent distinctive environmental and social conditions. A cold climate and a very vulnerable countryside and aquatic ecosystems distinguish the environment.
The Pasvik area is a typical example of how a cold climate environment was influenced by the dividing Iron Curtain. Severe pollution problems have been identified. The pollution is caused by two major
sources; overgrazing of reindeers on the Norwegian side and air pollution, mainly from the industry in the city of Nikel. Several mines have been operated both in Norway and Russia. The rich mineral deposits and the strategic location by the open sea provided the basis for the extensive mining activities and metallurgic industry in the Pasvik area and on the Kola Peninsula. This leads to the establishment of mining and industrial towns like Nikel, Zapoljarnyj, Murmansk, Montsjegorsk, Kirovsk og Apatity in Russia. As a consequence, large emissions of SO4, heavy metals and dusts occurred which have lead to significant local environmental damages. This air pollution has caused a "technogenic" desert north and south of the nickel-smelter. From the Nikel area large amounts of contaminated water are draining to the Pasvik River.

Most of the people in the pilot area live in the Russian town Nikel with 30.000 inhabitants and in the Norwegian town Kirkenes with approx. 7.000 inhabitants. With the new political era, major changes are expected in the region regarding settlement, industrial activity, land use and the standard of living.

This provides an opportunity for land use planning according to best-practice guidelines and safe-minimum standards of environmental regulation, while trying to minimize the costs of achieving the guidelines and standards. Among others, planning is needed to determine what kind of economic activities should be allowed at which locations in order to avoid an increase in transport of contaminants by river to the sea. New development and continuous pollution from old industry may pose a particular threat to those economic activities, which are most natural resource dependent in the area. At present, fish farming and fisheries constitute the most important economic activities at obvious risk to water pollution in the catchments.

At present the economical basis in the region consists of industry, farming and fishing. Reindeer and grassland farming dominate the agricultural activity on the western side of the Iron Curtain. The area east of the Iron Curtain agriculture only plays a minor role. Forestry and fishing are the major export commodities from the region. In addition military activities have been important for employment after the Second World War.

The water pollution of heavy metals from the smelter and the pits represents only a small part of the total load to river Kolosjoki. There is reason to believe that mine tailings also are an important source of pollution. In addition to industrial wastes, the Kolosjoki Stream and Kuetsyarvi receive 13 000 ton/year of domestic sewage from the Nikel town. On the bank of the Pasvik River there are a number of small Russian and Norwegian settlements generating municipal wastes containing nutrients which accelerate the process of eutrophication. In addition, high toxic organic matter has been found in the river.

The main load of pollutants (Ni, Cu, SO4) are carried by the Kolosjoki Stream into Lake Kuetsyarvi. Kuetsyarvi serves as a sink for pollutants into the Pasvik River. Approximately one half of the nickel and copper precipitates goes in the lake before the water runs into Pasvik River. The contribution of nickel from the other tributaries is very small compared to the outlet of Kuetsyarvi, while the contributions of P, N and Cu are smaller, but in the same order of magnitude as for Kuetsyarvi.