During 18 months, this European Phare twinning program, based in Timisoara, represent the focal point on soil protection and ecological reconstruction.
In Romania, laws on environment exist, such as :
- The O.U.G. no. 195/2005, on the environment protection, approved by the Law no. 265/2006,
- The law on Waters – n°310/2004,
- The law on Land Improvement – n°138/2004,
- The law on the Afforestation of Degraded Lands – n°107/1999.
However, the existing legislative framework is still incomplete, requiring the elaboration of a specific legislation on soil protection, land management and on the improvement of degraded lands.
France has given an increasing attention to the contaminated sites and land over the last 15 years. This resulted in the emergence of laws, methodological guidance for contaminated sites management and systems of financing. These tools, like those of the other European countries, are based on risk assessment and management approaches. Contaminated land resulting of industrial activities during two centuries has been a major concern for at least 20 years. The French policy on this topic was developed within the framework of the Classified Industrial Installations regulation. Its principles and implementation are similar to the ones existing in the other European countries.
This policy focuses on two main concepts:
- Risk analysis and management rather than consideration of an intrinsic level of pollution. The diagnosis of the site has to be made, taking into account the historical and environmental study, measuring the concentration levels of substances which could be present on and near the site, knowing the geology and the hydrogeology context, in order to precise how the pollutants could migrate in the soil and in the water;
- Management according to the use of the site.
IHOBE, junior partner of this twinning, is located in the Basque Country, a region which started developing its policy of contaminated soil management since the beginning of the nineties in the context of redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites inherited from its rich industrial history. Since 2005, the Basque Country disposes of a specific law for the prevention and rehabilitation of contaminated sites. In 2006 a decree establishing an accreditation system for consultants that carry out investigations and rehabilitations of contaminated sites was elaborated. The Basque policy differs from the approach developed in France as it considers semi-generic reference values in a preliminary stage of investigations in order to take decisions on necessary detailed investigations and the realization of a site specific risk assessment.
Applying the transparency principle, the French government favors a large and free diffusion of information towards the public and contaminated lands stakeholders, especially favoring:
- The inventory of ancient industrial sites through a data base called BASIAS,
- The inventory of active contaminated sites, managed by public authorities, through the data base BASOL.
First, the objectives of this project are to establish a point of the situation in the West Region in Romania in order to adapt the training sessions, seminars, and working groups sessions content to:
- French policy regarding polluted sites and soils, last 15 years experience feed back,
- Inventories of polluted sites and soils (data base BASIAS and BASOL),
- French contaminated sites management : investigation – historical and environmental studies – rehabilitation, starting from case studies review,
- Study of different topics regarding mining polluted soils, sterile deposits, non-complying landfills, inorganic residues, substances carried by the air, salted waters from petroleum extraction.
Another objective is to develop a certain number of specific tools for the implementation of soil protection in other regions of Romania; for every activity, the referent experts will collaborate with the Romanian colleagues on case studies work in order to prepare, develop or elaborate:
- Evaluation and rehabilitation projects for the contaminated sites,
- Guidelines to apply in rehabilitation methods on the main types of contaminated sites,
- Data management related to soil protection and ecological reconstruction,
- Training of a group of future Romanian trainers for soil protection.
