Abstract: Nowadays it is often proclaiming: protecting the environment is protection of the future generations. Looking ahead to imagine, influence and convert the future without the knowledge of the present is a hopeless attempt. It is therefore not surprising that the birth of the environmental protection is in the same age with the data collection of about the condition of environment.
Nowadays, in connection with the growth of the pollution there are more and more discussions about the potentially toxic substances and increasing attention turns to the hazards associated with heavy metals. The geographical position and installed mineral resource-rich areas of industrial facilities centuries-old history looks back over an operating period, an uncontrolled produced and issued impurity in their immediate surroundings. Scientific research and new technologies mean more and more opportunities arising from this survey and assessment of pollution.
In Hungary there were several main industrial areas. Main cities of industrial centers are: Miskolc, Kazincbarcika, Salgótarján, Ózd, Tatabánya, Várpalota, Komló, Pécs and so on. In between 1960 and 1980 the mentioned cities and their area were prosperous industrial areas, but nowadays they have serious problems or they are not working any more.
One of the most important industrial areas was in Borsod County. It can found near Sajó Valley. About 30 years ago the Sajó Valley was a thriving industrial area, in which however in the early 90s most of the factories were closed, but the pollutions that were left behind have been dealt with in a minor manner. In these times, a comprehensive monitoring has been conducted by The Green Action Association in the Sajó Valley. The idea was how to carry out this work, since significant amounts of heavy metal pollution and lithium were found in the areas studied there. It can be said that these pollutions are caused by the heavy industry operations originating from the XIX. century until the 1980s.
The main goal of a lot of research activities was to investigate what is the actual situation after 20 years, how big are heavy metal concentrations in the industrial areas, which were surveyed by The Green Action Association. Based on the data obtained from different researches, we propose carrying out a monitoring of similar order of magnitude, which was carried out in the 1990s, as well as the cleaning of the contaminated soils.


Key words: heavy industry; heavy metals; monitoring heavy metal contamination; remediation