Wang Wenxuan (alias), a villager from the Maoer township in the Huayuan county, lives at the foot of the mountain where the tailing ponds from Taifeng mining company are located. In the picture he shows the well of the groundwater, which has been polluted by wastewater from the mines. Two decades of lead and zinc mining in the area has taken a major toll. The population of the villages, most of who are ethnically Miao, has experienced severe health impacts as a result of heavy metal exposure. Wang has been drinking the groundwater for years. In ten years two surgeries were performed on him to take out kidney stones. Many people in his village suffer of the same kidney disease.