The Council of Ministers, at its meeting on 17 February 1995, adopted an Agreement approving the National Plan for the Recovery of Contaminated Soils.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of its advertising, this Secretariat of State has resolved to have the publication in the "Official Gazette of the State" of the said Agreement, as an annex to this Resolution.

Madrid, April 28, 1995. -Secretary of State Cristina Narbona Ruiz.

ANNEX

Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan (1995-2000)

Text approved by the Council of Ministers on 17 February 1995

INDEX

0. Introduction.

1. Diagnosis of the current situation.

2. Objectives and lines of action of the National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan.

3. The financing of the National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan.

BOXES

Table 1. National inventory of contaminated spaces. Industrial activities and potentially contaminated sites.

Table 2. Actions to develop on contaminated spaces from the national inventory and from the proposals of the Autonomous Communities.

Table 3. Objectives and main lines of action of the National Plan for the Recovery of Contaminated Soils 1995-2005.

Table 4. Resources of the Secretariat of State for the Environment and the Cohesion Fund. National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan.

Table 5. National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan. Resources of the Secretariat of State for the Environment and Housing and the Cohesion Fund for Autonomous Communities.

0. Introduction

This document is raised for approval by the Council of Ministers. Its objective is to guide the action of the State Administration in the field of Contaminated Soil Recovery, in the medium and long term, incorporating already existing Autonomous Plans through the formulation of:

The National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan (1995-2000).

The basic lines of this plan were discussed at the meeting of the Sectoral Conference on the Environment (Guadeloupe, 19 September 1994) and in subsequent bilateral contacts. It has also been enriched in its design by the contributions of the Environmental Advisory Council.

The basic instruments of the National Plan, in terms of state action, will be:

The pipeline of low interest financing for public and private investments, subject to the agreement of the Autonomous Communities concerned.

The contribution of the budget resources of the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing and the obtaining of assistance from the Cohesion Fund.

The reorientation of the activity of the EMGRISA State Society, in accordance with the priorities set out in the National Plan.

The strengthening of the actions of the Autonomous Communities, as well as other departments of the Central Administration, and in particular of the programs of the Ministries of Industry and Energy, and of Education and Science, that the content can contribute to the successful success of the plan.

The transposition of Community legislation corresponding to basic legislation pending transposition into national law, and in particular concerning hazardous waste.

The relevant tax changes that favour the reduction in the use of toxic substances and the more environmentally sound treatment of hazardous waste, as well as the development of markets for materials obtained from the recovery and recycling of hazardous waste.

The articulation of the National Plan with the corresponding regional plans will be guaranteed through bilateral agreements; multilateral coordination will be maintained through the Sectoral Conference on the Environment.

Social participation is guaranteed through the Environmental Advisory Council and the organizations that integrate it.

1. Diagnosis of the current situation

When the first National Plan for Industrial Waste was drawn up in 1989, the serious accumulation in the soil of hazardous waste, which poses a high risk to human health, was revealed. water, the quality of plant production, etc., and therefore with important repercussions at the level not only of the environment, but above all social and economic. It is considered that a space is contaminated when its natural quality has been altered by the presence of toxic and dangerous components of anthropic origin with the consequent imbalance in the soil's own functions.

From 1991 the Ministry of Public Works Transport and the Environment began the realization of a first Inventory of Contaminated Spaces that, covering the entire territory, served as an initial approach. The National Inventory was based on the identification, under the experience of the pioneer countries in this field, of the potentially polluting activities to generate toxic and dangerous waste and the allegedly contaminated sites. for the same, as well as in the characterization in the field of a certain number of them, in the face of a first diagnosis of the situation, regarding the type of contamination existing to the aspects on the water, the use of the soil, etc., to the treatment systems evaluated technically and economically, and to the needs of infrastructure and short, medium and long term action programmes.

The first inventory has also served to demonstrate the urgency of further investigation and characterization of new sites and, in this line, its enlargement has been carried out. The second phase started in 1994 will last two years and aims to identify potentially contaminated new sites and to characterize 115 other contaminated sites already identified.

Currently, the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing has identified and inventoried a total of 18,142 industrial activities that for their size (number of employees and energy consumption), probability of contaminating (type of activity, transport and storage systems) and toxicity of the substances are potential sources of contamination. A number of 4,532 sites identified as potentially contaminated by the type, concentration of pollutants and dispersion potential of the sites, the biophysical and anthropic system in which it is located, have also been detected. the vulnerability of these media.

Of the total number of sites identified, 249 were subjected to a process of characterization in the field and subsequently evaluated according to the damage and risk presented to public health, natural resources and the environment. environment. The result is described in Table 1.

TABLE 1

National Inventory Of Contaminated Spaces. Industrial activities and potentially contaminated sites

Autonomous Community/Industrial activities/Inventoried sites/Characterised sites

Andalusia/1.396/618/31

Aragon/717/321/-

Asturias/394/153/12

Baleares/303/12/2

Canarias/396/222/9

Cantabria/238/77/5

Castilla y León/811/399/21

Castilla-La Mancha/287/397/11

Catalonia/4,913/577/40

Valencia/2.330/307/32

Extremadura/183/29/4

Galicia/860/524/19

Madrid/2.277/222/16

Murcia/469/73/8

Navarra/334/23/6

Basque Country/2.059/539/30

La Rioja/153/34/3

Ceuta-Melilla/22/5/1

Total/18,142/4,532/249

Note: In Aragon, no sites were characterized for having identified them in the study of " Localization, characterization and risk analysis of Contaminated Spaces by Industrial Waste in Aragon and the elaboration of a Plan For the restoration of the same ", carried out by the Department of Territorial Planning, Public Works and Transport of the Directorate-General for the Environment.

Data collected on the 249 sites that are characterized indicate that:

All sites do not comply with legal requirements, with free access in 59 per 100 of them.

27 per 100 of the sites are located on urban land, 26 per 100 on undeveloped land, 21 per 100 on non-urbanizable soil protected, 14.5 per 100 on unplanned soil and 11.6 per 100 on land-based land. programmed, with the majority (27 per 100) very close to urban helmets (less than 100 meters) and even within them, and only 17 per 100 to over 2 kilometers.

The risk of groundwater contamination is high at 60 per 100 of the sites, as they are located on medium or high permeability grounds. As for the extent of the surface water condition, it can be estimated equally high since almost 50 per 100 of them are less than 50 metres from the bed.

In terms of the pollutants analyzed in soils mostly heavy metals, mineral oils, hydrocarbons, particularly aromatics (BTEX) and phenols, and some very toxic such as HCH, DDT, PCBs, arsenic and mercury.

Of the total of the sites studied and characterized, 61 are considered high priority due to the serious condition to the groundwater, their imminent urban reclassification, the special hazard of the pollutants present in them, their proximity to urban helmets or because they are areas of hydraulic public domain or hydraulic servitude.

At 85 sites there is no evidence of serious environmental damage as a result of which they can be considered as sites to be recovered in the medium term. Whenever the level of risk is sufficient to allow sufficient time, in any case, more detailed investigations of both the environmental condition and the technique to be used may be carried out. Pilot experiments to confirm the best restoration technique.

The remaining 128 spaces require long-term recovery and recovery measures, without requiring action to be carried out immediately, but they require a monitoring and control programme to detect any change in the level of risk, either due to an increase in contamination, a condition of other means or a change in the uses of the soil or water affected.

Taking into account the additional data provided by the Autonomous Communities, progress has been made jointly towards the scheme of actions to be developed and its timetable, according to Table 2.

TABLE 2

Actions to be carried out on contaminated spaces from the National Inventory and the proposals of the Autonomous Communities

Autonomous Community/Sites in which actions are proposed: Short Term/Medium Term/Long Term/Total

Andalucía (1)/6/8/16/30

Aragon (2)/6/7/15/28

Asturias/0/4/8/12

Balearics/1/0/1/2

Canarias/2/4/3/9

Cantabria/0/1/4/5

Castilla y León/5/4/12/21

Castilla-La Mancha (3). /1/5/3/9

Catalonia/7/17/16/40

Extremadura/0/1/3/4

Galicia/4/3/12/19

Madrid (4)/4/4/6/14

Murcia/5/3/2/10

Navarra/2/1/3/6

Basque Country/13/13/4/30

La Rioja/0/0/3/3

Valencia/5/10/17/32

Total/61/85/128/274

(1) Including Ceuta and Melilla. In one of the sites characterised in this Community, no action is proposed, since a more detailed investigation should be carried out.

(2) Priority Actuations for Short-Term Undertake Proposals by the DGA in the Contaminated Spaces Restoration Plan.

(3) In two of the areas characterised in this Community, no action is proposed, since a more detailed investigation should be carried out.

(4) In two of the sites characterised in this Community, no action is proposed as a more detailed investigation is to be considered.

2. Objectives and lines of action of the National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan

Soil protection is a priority environmental objective. The seriousness of the problems of pollution accumulated in the past, and which continues to increase at present, forces us to act very urgently. Public action does not, under any circumstances, nullify the responsibility of those who caused or cause the current situation; therefore, all legal initiatives should be undertaken, as in fact has already been carried out in some locations. severely contaminated.

Table 3 describes the objectives and main lines of action of this plan. As can be seen, a good part of the preventive measures necessary to prevent further degradation of the soil are already incorporated in the National Plan of Hazardous Waste. The temporal scenario of both plans is different, due to the predictable cadence of the actions to be undertaken, as it will require a dilated period of studies of characterization and analysis of the most suitable solutions in each case. Based on the current level of knowledge, a target for the characterization of another 1,650 sites (with which almost half of the inventoried soils would be reached), and the recovery of 275 contaminated soils, can be set for 2005. giving priority to the 61 sites already identified as the highest risk of the order of 38 million cubic meters of soil and more than 9 million cubic meters of groundwater. To this end, it is essential-in addition to the financial effort described in the tables ....-to develop specific rules, which are currently non-existent at the state level, which in particular establish:

Standars of soil quality according to the uses.

Non-contaminated soil certification prior to authorizing any residential or productive use.

The transposition of the Community Landfill Directive, with precise complementary technical instructions.

Elaboration of complementary technical instructions on sampling, laboratory analysis and research procedures.

The state company EMGRISA will act by facilitating the assessment and, where appropriate, the implementation of the concrete projects, as well as the publication of methodological guides for the analysis of soil contamination and its impact. environmental.

The recovery of soils will imply a possible increase in the needs of suitable infrastructures-in particular in terms of security deposits-which must be incorporated into the forecasts already contained in the National Plan. Hazardous Waste.

TABLE 3

Objectives and main lines of actions of the National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan 1995-2005

Priority Objectives/Main Action Lines

Prevention of soil contamination. /All those included in the Prevention of the National Plan for Hazardous Waste.

New analyses to provide for the potential for contamination of soils by activities or use of certain substances.

Approval of appropriate specific regulations.

Support for R & D aimed at soil characterization.

Sanitation and recovery of contaminated soils. /Systematic advance in the identification and characterization of contaminated soils.

Defining and developing recovery and sanitation actions.

Control and monitoring of identified sites up to their sanitation.

Incitatives in the framework of the legislation in force against those responsible for soil contamination.

3. The financing of the National Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan

The investments necessary to achieve the objectives of this Plan amount, for the period 1995-2005, to 132 billion pesetas. The Secretariat of State for the Environment and Housing will provide, with its budgets or channelling resources from the Cohesion Fund to projects of the Autonomous Communities, 50 per 100 of this amount, co-financing the cost of the studies and works necessary for the recovery of the soil. The Autonomous Communities shall guarantee the public ownership of the land and provide the rest of the necessary resources, with the costs incurred by the Administrations of the expenses incurred if income derived from any actions is obtained the legal responsibility of those responsible for the contamination of the soil or the revalorisation of the land, once they are rehabilitated. Any surplus value must in any case revert to the public purse, and, as far as possible, constitute additional resources to continue to act on contaminated soils.

The Ministry of Public Works Transport and the Environment in the event that the Cohesion Funds will cease to exist or their endowment will be insufficient, will assume the difference through internal adjustments in their budget at the expense of the his case, other policies of the Department.

Table 4 provides the necessary resources according to the four main action programmes (identification and characterization, project development, project implementation and monitoring and control plans).

In Table 5, an attempt is made to approximate the territorial distribution of the amounts charged to the budgets of the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing or from the Cohesion Funds. projects of the Autonomous Communities. This distribution takes into account the soil characterization so far carried out and contrasted with the Autonomous Communities, as well as the concrete possibilities to act, agreed with them. However, from 1996 onwards, the initial distribution should be considered as an estimate of the intensity of the problem in each territorial area and therefore the allocation of resources should be reviewed, at least every two years, in the light of the effective possibilities for action and new knowledge, on the subject in general, and on the new sites, which will be identified in their case.

TABLE 4

Resources of the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing and the Cohesion Funds.

Contaminated Soil Recovery Plan

(Million pesetas)

Subprogrammes/1995/1996/1997/1998/1999/2000/2001/2002/2003/2004/2005/Total

Identification and characterization/110/110/110/110/110/210/110/110/110/110/110/1,210

Recovery Project/500/500/500/500/500/500/500/500/500/500/5,500

Project Execution/930/4.190/2,590/1.540/1,490/1,410/8.960/8.960/8.960/8.960/9.064/57,054

Tracking and Control Plan/-/100/150/200/250/330/330/330/330/330/330/2,680

Total/1,540/4,900/3,350/2,350/2,350/2,350/9,900/9,900/9,900/9,900/10,004/66,444

TABLE 5

National Plan for the Recovery of Contaminated Soils. Resources of the Secretariat of State for the Environment and Housing and the Cohesion Fund for Autonomous Communities

(In millions of pesetas)

Autonomous Communities/Total 1995-2000/Total 1995-2005

Andalusia/1.372/19,959

Aragon/1.853/3.550

Asturias/600/876

Balearics/105/105

Canary Islands/390/2.238

Cantabria/210/739

Castilla-La Mancha/130/130

Castilla y León/1.236/1.822

Catalonia/2.052/10.707

Extremadura/295/335

Galicia/930/1,780

La Rioja/205/205

Madrid/1.860/3,131

Murcia/1,150/4,800

Navarra/625/625

Basque Country/2.185/12.950

Valencia/1,642/2.492

Total/18.840/66.444