This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at En clave de opinión: Balance con algunas lagunas

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The Royal Decree 9/2005 still has gaps that associations such as Asegre are intended to improve

In the key of opinion: Balance with some gaps

Luis Palomino, Secretary General of Asegre14/11/2008

November 14, 2008

It's been three years since the entry into force of the Royal Decree 9/2005, which establishes the relationship of potentially polluting activities of soil and the criteria and standards for the Declaration of polluted soil. And a year since the deadline to comply with the obligation which established this Royal Decree, concerning that potentially pollutant activities of soil should send a preliminary report from the ground. These facts provide sufficient perspective to take stock of its implementation and point out their advantages and disadvantages.

On the one hand, this Royal Decree, waited for a long time, especially for those autonomous communities with largest population and level of industrialization, qualifies as:

· A good rule, establishing requirements clear, comparable to most demanding EU equivalents, and which puts Spain far ahead of the directive which establishes a framework for the protection of the soil, which currently is in development.

· It has allowed to initiate a dynamics of work, creating a culture of protection of the soil and has provided the tool came to need long time for the recovery of the contaminated soil to the autonomous communities.

The report whose approval is now three years old, already a year ago that it is obligatory. Photo: Dan Shirley.

Suggestions for improvement for the analysis of the soil

Some aspects of the Royal Decree which makes it impractical in some cases, and which are then analyzed together with the major implications that has had its approval could be improved:

· The lack of realization of the annex, which establishes the relationship of activities potentially polluters of soil, makes the scope of extraordinarily broad peaking in some cases, affect a surprisingly small economic activities and reduced risk.

· This fact has caused that the autonomous communities have received, through the preliminary situation reports, huge amounts of information from these activities. And although most have allocated significant resources to manage and analyze this information, the task is assuming they invest a huge amount of time to the detriment of the expected progress in other key tasks for the proper management of contaminated soils.

· The adoption of this standard created the expectation of the emergence of a new niche market for the companies in the environmental sector. As a result were created companies that provided services, primarily research of soil, without the knowledge and resources.

The Royal Decree provides in its annex III criteria as contaminated for the consideration of as contaminated soil, a soil will be declared when identified for the protection of human health or any unacceptable risks for ecosystemsdue to the presence of pollutants. It gives both a decisive value the risk raises the existing pollution with the intended use, since that decontamination costs are high and must decontaminate only where necessary and to the level where the risk is manageable. This has a prominent role of risk analysis, as a decision tool.

However this tool, apart from being applied by a specialized consulting firm, is in the hands of the possessor of the land, and it is therefore likely to be used in certain interests. For this reason it is essential to create a tool for risk analysis with use standards to ensure their objectivity, i.e. that regardless of the technical it applies, the result is always the same.

· The fact that our country is producing a rapid transformation of industrial land in urban land, coupled with the renovation of industrial facilities, makes it particularly important to a proper application of article 3.5. of the Royal Decree, which stipulates that in soil that has forged a potentially polluting activity must submit a status report when requested the change of activity or use.

· The reality is that not always applies this requirement properly and is leading to projects of decommissioning of industrial facilities, in addition to not be an investigation of own industrial ruin so that criterion is taken to segregate the materials resulting from demolition and its management as a hazardous waste or waste from construction and demolition, not an investigation of the ground or is made with poor quality, with the result that a significant fraction of the contaminated soil is managed in undue way, together with the construction and demolition waste.