Water bodies are increasingly contaminated by industrial and anthropogenic activities, climate change, and major environmental accidents. Global awareness has led the United Nations to develop an action plan to increase individuals' access to clean water. Mine-tailing spills have been reported worldwide, with serious implications for major watercourses, especially the release of high metal concentrations. More recently, two events with alarming proportions and effects occurred in Brazil (Mariana accident in 2015 and Brumadinho accident in 2019), which resulted in approximately 300 human deaths. Mine residues rich in metals (mainly iron, aluminum, and manganese) reached important freshwater sources and have traveled hundreds of kilometers to reach the Atlantic Ocean, causing environmental harm and human health issues. For example, in the Mariana disaster, studies using the zebrafish model reported toxicity in water samples collected 464 km from the dam rupture site. This study presents data on the magnitude of these events, focusing on concerns associated with high dissolved metal concentrations in watercourses, exposing the direct impacts reported to the local aquatic environment as well as other effects that could persist in the long term.