Experience in Remediation of Contaminated Sites at Home and Abroad

Jing WEI, Tingting MENG, Wangtao FAN

Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd.; Institute of Land Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd.; Key Laboratory of Degraded and Unused Land Consolidation Engineering, Ministry of Natural Resources; Shaanxi Provincial Land Consolidation Engineering Technology Research Center; Land Engineering Technology Innovation Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xi’an 710075, China

Abstract The selection of remediation technology for contaminated site is a key link of the remediation project.It determines the success or failure of the site remediation.The complexity of the types of contaminants in the site determines the diversity of remediation technologies.The experience of many countries in the world shows that the use of scientific and technological means and advanced technology can more effectively carry out the work of soil protection and pollution prevention and control, and achieve obvious results.

Key words Contaminated site, Database, Legislation

1 Restoration of contaminated sites in Germany

Germany is a country with rich experience in soil pollution prevention and control legislation and law enforcement.At present, the laws related to soil pollution prevention and control in Germany mainly include the

Federal

Law

on

Soil

Protection

and the

Federal

Regulations

on

Soil

Protection

and

Polluted

Places

.Among them, the

Federal

Soil

Protection

Act

was passed on 6 February 1998 and the final provisions of this

Act

came into force on March 1, 1999.The main contents include the legislative purpose, the duty to avoid soil deterioration, the subject of purification and its duty, the duty to investigate contaminated soil and the system of information disclosure.In order to guarantee the non-pollution of soil and water quality in the process of agricultural production and improve the efficiency of agricultural production, Germany proposed the development of ecological agriculture and formulated a series of agricultural environmental protection policies and regulations, such as the

Law

on

the

Use

of

Fertilizer

, the

Law

on

the

Protection

of

Natural

Resources

, the

Law

on

the

Protection

of

Land

Resources

and

the

Law

on

Waste

Disposal

.Because fertilization is often used in agricultural production will also cause serious pollution to the soil, so Germany formulated fertilization law regulations in 1996, the use of fertilizers according to law, to prevent soil pollution caused by fertilization.

The German Urban Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for the comprehensive investigation of the city’s polluted and suspected contaminated sites, the long-term monitoring and investigation of the soil, the establishment of a professional database, for the development of soil protection work to lay a solid foundation.

(i)Soil monitoring should be carried out comprehensively.At present, the soil is monitored on a long-term basis in all German states.Through monitoring the soil quality of different uses, we can know the change information of soil characteristics at any time and evaluate whether the treatment measures are effective.

(ii)All suspected pollution plots are screened and screened, and a professional database of contaminated sites is established.The first step in soil pollution control is to register all contaminated or suspected contaminated plots and establish a complete file of soil pollution information.NRW has established a detailed professional database on soil protection and remediation of contaminated sites, which can be used by all government departments related to soil protection and management, and the local government can realize dynamic supervision of soil protection in the whole state through the database.

(iii)According to the severity of the site pollution, a priority ranking system should be established to carry out a preliminary investigation on the seriously polluted site.If the investigation results show that there is pollution, the responsible subject shall conduct a detailed investigation of the contaminated land, formulate technical plans and carry out the implementation.

Germans are famous for being rigorous and meticulous.Facing such a serious topic of legislation and law enforcement, of course, Germans will be more rigorous and meticulous, and more pragmatic law enforcement will inject rich connotation, which is of reference significance.

2 Restoration of contaminated sites in Japan

In Japan, which entered industrialization earlier, the "Kitakitai Disease" event in 1968 directly led to the introduction of the

Agricultural

Land

Law

in 1970.After the development of heavy chemical industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Japan’s soil pollution was very serious.A special survey conducted in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s found that there were 124 contaminated agricultural areas, covering an area of 6 350 ha, with hazardous substances exceeding the standard.By 1986, 128 contaminated areas were identified, covering an area of 7 030 ha.Since the 1970s, a large number of soil pollution incidents have occurred frequently in urban areas.The most representative case is that in 1975, a large number of soil contamination incidents with hexavalent chromium occurred frequently in Tokyo area, gradually evolving into a serious social problem, and thus drawing the attention of the whole society to "urban" soil pollution.Against this background, on May 29, 2002, Japan published the

Soil

Pollution

Countermeasures

Law

for "urban" soil pollution, and on December 26, 2002, Japan published the

Implementation

Rules

for

the

Soil

Pollution

Prevention

and

Control

Law

.Japan’s special legislation on soil pollution control includes the

Law

on

the

Prevention

and

Control

of

Soil

Pollution

on

Agricultural

Land

and the

Law

on

Soil

Pollution

Countermeasures.

The main purpose of the

Law

on

the

Prevention

and

Control

of

Soil

Pollution

on

Agricultural

Land

is to prevent and eliminate the pollution of agricultural land by certain harmful substances and to make rational use of the polluted agricultural land.The contents mainly include designating and changing countermeasure areas for soil pollution on agricultural land, making and changing countermeasure plans for soil pollution on agricultural land, designating and changing special areas, investigating and measuring soil pollution on agricultural land, field investigation, advice for crop planting,

etc.

Japanese soil pollution control legislation, of course, is not limited to these special legislations, there are a lot of soil pollution prevention and the outside of the relevant legislation, including the law on the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution Dioxine material in special measures laws such as

Water

Pollution

Control

Law

,

Waste

Disposal

and

Public

Cleansing

Law

,

Mine

Safety

Act

,

etc.

These peripheral legislations are formulated to control the air pollution, water pollution, solid waste pollution, specific chemical substances pollution, chemical fertilizer and pesticide pollution and mineral pollution control, from different aspects to block new soil pollution sources, so as to achieve the goal of preventing soil pollution.

3 Restoration of contaminated sites in the South Korea

Special soil pollution control legislation in South Korea began in 1995, which was later than that in Japan.However, the South Korea has done a good job in responding to changes in development and the legislative process.In order to make the legislation more targeted and effective, the South Korea has revised and improved the relevant laws many times to ensure that the legislation always keeps pace with the development and change process.

Since 1995, after several revisions, the South Korea has mainly perfected the

Soil

Environmental

Protection

Law

and the

Rules

for

the

Implementation

of

the

Soil

Environmental

Protection

Law.

Among them, the promulgation of the

Law

on

Soil

Environmental

Protection

enabled South Korea to establish a comprehensive legal framework for soil pollution prevention and control, which had a positive impact on soil environmental protection.In particular, in 1996, the Ministry of the Environment of South Korea established a "soil pollution monitoring network" to prevent soil pollution in areas adjacent to mines, refineries, military bases, oil storage facilities and waste disposal sites.

Special soil pollution control legislation, and in a timely manner in the process of the social development of response, revising and improving laws, the laws and regulations synchronization with changes all the time, and time synchronization, not only enforce the soil pollution survey, soil pollution, specify and repair system, such as voluntary and greatly promoted the enterprise to carry on the soil pollution control, has achieved good effect.

4 Restoration of contaminated sites in Russia

In Russia, there is no special legislation on soil pollution prevention and control, and the legislation on soil protection is based on other laws and regulations, that is, provisions on soil pollution prevention and control are made in other relevant laws.At present, mainly in the environmental protection law of the Russian federation, the code of the Russian land the

Russian

Federal

Clean

Air

Act

, the code of the Russian water, the

Russian

Federation

on

the

Russian

Residents

’

Health

Security

Quarantine

mentioned the Russian federation on safe use of chemical pesticides herbicides and agricultural chemicals act there are some rules.Among them, the

Russian

Land

Code

stipulates the purpose and content of land protection, including the protection of soil and soil fertility.It also obliges land owners, land managers, land users and lessee to improve the fertility of the soil, adopt environmentally friendly processes for production, and refrain from destroying the ecological condition of the soil because of their own agricultural activities.At the same time, the methods of soil pollution remediation, such as eliminating pollution consequences, maintaining the achieved soil amelioration level, reclaiming damaged soil and restoring soil fertility, are stipulated.Take the

Russian

Federation

Law

on

the

Safe

Use

of

Chemical

Insecticides

and

Herbicides

and

Agricultural

Chemicals

as an example, the series of tests, registration and ecological identification of pesticides and fertilizers used in the Russian Federation, as well as the strict regulations on the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, are all preventive systems for soil pollution.Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers is an important cause of farmland soil pollution, so it is necessary to establish and improve the use system of pesticides and fertilizers, especially to prohibit the use of highly toxic pesticides, and to limit the use of pesticides with high toxicity, high residue and long residue period.

5 Restoration of contaminated sites in China

The research and development process of land pollution remediation technology in China can be divided into four stages.(i)Before the 1960s, the soil remediation method was physical remediation, mainly through landfill, scraping, reclaiming and other measures to treat degraded land.(ii)In the 1970s and 1980s, physical remediation was adopted as the soil management method, which mainly consisted of the stable use of land resources and the supporting of related basic environmental engineering;(iii)In the 1990s, physical, chemical and biological restoration were the main methods of soil remediation, but land reclamation was the main technology.Pioneer plants and tolerant plants were selected to restore soil characteristics.(iv)Since the 21century, soil treatment methods have become diverse, such as physical, chemical and biological restoration, and remediation technologies have mainly adopted plants, microorganisms, animals, solidification/stabilization, soil aeration, chemical REDOX, thermal desorption, leaching, chemical extraction,

etc.

, with phytoremediation as the focus of research and development and application.