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Soil protection: Inspections and control on polluted sites

Soil protection: Inspections and control on polluted sites. Valleta, Malta 03 October 2013 Manuela Florean . National Environmental Guard (NEG). Environmental inspection authority in Romania.

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Soil protection: Inspections and control on polluted sites

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  1. Soil protection: Inspections and control on polluted sites Valleta, Malta 03 October 2013 Manuela Florean Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  2. National Environmental Guard (NEG) • Environmental inspection authority in Romania. • Inspections and control in the field of environment protection are carried out in accordance with Recommendation 2001/331/EC concerning minimum criteria for inspection in Member States of EU. • An annual inspection plan is issued, which is approved at central level; the plan is made on risk based classification of sites. • Installations are classified taking into account theirs impact on environment and the operator’s performance. • The frequencies of inspections are defined in the national technical inspection norms. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  3. Soil pollution (source I.A. Mirsal, 2008) Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  4. General information about closed mines and closed mines waste facilities in Romania (2012) • 627 closed waste facilities of solid extractive waste (heaps) • 68 closed waste facilities of liquid extractive waste (tailings and ponds) • Closure decision was approved by the Romanian Government for a number of 556 mines and open pits (source www.minind.ro) • Mining industry affected 24.432 ha of agricultural and forestry uses soils • Pollution due to dumps, ponds, tailings from the flotation deposit affects 6.639 ha in 35 counties from 42 counties of Romania (source www.icpa.ro) Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  5. Legislative framework • The mining activity is controlled by the Romanian Constitution and the Mining Law (no. 85/2003 amended) • Government Decree 856/2008 which transpose The Directive 2006/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the management of waste from extractive industries and amending Directive 2004/35/EC- Statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission • Government Ordinance no. 195/2005, amended, regarding the environment protection- is regulating all the activities with impact on the environment • Law no. 107/1996, amended, which transpose the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy) Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  6. The environmental permit • Environment Protection Agency issues the permit for operational mining activities, mining waste facilities as well for closed mines and waste facilities which are under rehabilitation process and monitoring. • The permit is defining the monitoring framework required to environmental rehabilitation. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  7. Inspection of closed mines and mine waste facilities Step 1 Preparation of inspection Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  8. Preparation of inspection Compiling and assessing available information on: • historical information • environmental permit • older investigations • environmental monitoring information • maps • technical project of rehabilitation • inspection reports Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  9. Inspection of closed mines and mine waste facilities Step 1 Step 2 Preparation of inspection Site visit Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  10. Site visit • inspection of the functionality of structures: • whether water drainage channels are intact and functional • dam and slope stability and tailings consolidation • management of the excavated contaminated soil, which can occur from fuel storage- must be stored into an isolated place and then removed by authorized operators. • inspection of vegetation status- is observed the final stage of the rehabilitation process, the revegetation of heaps (mixture of trees, shrubs and grasses to improve the site productivity), which should contribute to land stabilization; to improve the establishment and early growth of trees and other vegetations, fertilization is applied, but only the ones which were mentioned in the technical project of rehabilitation and within the established amounts, in order to avoid soil pollution with pesticides. • inspection of closed ventilations shafts which must be isolated by fencing the area, in order to avoid access of unauthorized persons, for safety reasons. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  11. Inspection of closed mines and mine waste facilities Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Preparation of inspection Site visit Findings of inspection Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  12. Findings of inspection • checks of available documents provided by the operator: • monitoring of chemical and physical parameters of soil- soil samples from areas that are under rehabilitation are taken periodically (at least twice per year) by the laboratories and the following parameters are measured: pH, organic substance composition, heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Cd, Mn, Cr, Ni, Co), humidity, porosity, texture; all the results are kept into a register which purpose is to assess the evolution of soil quality; data monitoring can also serve as a tool for competent authorities when checking if permits requirements are met • monitoring of geotechnical stability of slopes, dams- topographic measurements made at follow-up points, which were established using metal pillars • waste management • findings of the site visit • results and findings of interviews with site managers • written records on the findings Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  13. Inspection of closed mines and mine waste facilities Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Preparation of inspection Site visit Findings of inspection Recommendations, corrective measures Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  14. Recommendations, corrective measures • Imposed measures are in accordance with legislation in order to improve environmental performance. • Situations when corrective measures were imposed: • Exceeding the emissions thresholds for soil and water parameters during the closing process. • Improper maintaining of slopes stability which leaded to appearance of cracks. • Improper security measures (broken fence, stealing of metal pillars). • Improper status of vegetation. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  15. Inspection of closed mines and mine waste facilities Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Preparation of inspection Site visit Findings of inspection Recommendations, corrective measures Not mandatory Occurrences of non-compliance Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  16. Occurrences of non-compliance In case a non-compliance is found, NEG uses the following enforcement means: • Warnings - written or verbal • Fines - penalty notice • Criminal prosecutions. Fine is the most common enforcement mean used for compliance assurance. The fine range is from 6.000 euro to 20.000 euro. Due to the associated financial implications, the topic of closed mines and mine waste facilities is particularly difficult from other industries. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  17. Case study of site inspection at closed waste mine facility Deva Valley Pond (IazulValeaDevei) Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  18. General information about the pond • Situated at 4 km from Deva town, Hunedoara county • Surface covered- 32,9 ha (main pond and breakdown pond) • High- 90 m • Volume– 9.7 mil. m³ • Tailing resulted from floatation of complex minerals (Cu, Au) • Started in 1972 • Stopped 31.12.2006 • Rehabilitation process started in 2008, ended in 2013 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  19. Deva Valley pond in 2007 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  20. Site inspection inspection of dam and slope stability and consolidation- gabion consolidation Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  21. Site inspection inspecting if water drainage channels are intact and functional- concrete channels and rockfill channels Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  22. Site inspection applying the fertile soil and the geomembrane - inspecting if is applied on entire surface that is under rehabilitation process inspection of vegetation status- is observed the mixture of grasses meant to improve the site productivity, which should contribute to land stabilization Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  23. Deva Valley pond in 2013 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  24. Challenges to improve the feed-back of inspections • More skilled inspectors- improve knowledge by trainings. • Dividing more clear responsibility of different authorities. • Ensure the correct functioning of the regulatory cycle of implementing and supervising of the permit conditions by carrying out joint inspections. • Filling out the lacks in practical knowledge on how to enforce effectively and efficiently. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

  25. Thank you Ministry of Environment and Climate Change- National Environmental Guard Romania

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