- Email: [email protected]
Soil protection in Central and Eastern Europe
ELSEVIER
Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337 www.elsevier.com/locate/jgeoexp
Soil protection in Central and Eastern Europe Jadwiga Gzyl * Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, 6 Kossutha Street, 40-833 Katowice, Poland Accepted 24 February 1999
Abstract Monitoring of soils of Central and Eastern Europe has indicated that there are no nation-wide significant levels of pollutants, excepting a possible increase of acidification. However, numerous ‘hot spots’ of heavy metals and acidification resulting mainly from industrial and agricultural activities are present. In the past several years, new laws have been enacted with the explicit purpose of soil protection although further improvements are required. International co-operation must be enhanced since many of the problems go beyond national borders. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: soil protection; heavy metals; acidification; pollution
1. Introduction The soils of Central and Eastern Europe are largely comprised of the following groups: Orthic Luvisols and Podzols, Eutric and Dystric Cambisols, Rendzinas and Eutric Histosols, with lesser Fluvisols, Chernozems, Gleysols and Rankers. They originated from Quaternary sediments composed of glacial till, outwash and eolian deposits (KabataPendias, 1995). Soil degradation processes in Europe include pollution by heavy metals, organic contaminants (including pesticides), acidification, overfertilising and artificial radionuclides. Certain of these, including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxines, and artificial radionuclides result from industrial activities. Other important threats are water and wind erosion, soil compaction and losses of organic matter Ł E-mail:
[email protected]
through improper management practices (Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995). It is possible to rank soils in terms of their sensitivity to a particular stress such as their vulnerability to acidification and wind or water erosion; for example, sandy soils are much more vulnerable to acidification and pollution than black earth, while the vulnerability of loamy and clay soils lies between that of sandy soils and black earths (Table 1). The sources of heavy metals are mining and processing industries, combustion of fossil fuels, industrial plants, waste incineration plants and road traffic. They are introduced into the soil as wet or dry deposition. Organic pollutants such as PAHs, chlorinated hydrocarbons, PCBs and dioxins enter the soils through atmospheric deposition, contaminated water and waste disposal. For example, in the Russian Federation, the concentrations of PCBs in soils in industrial areas exceeded the national reference value by 20–30 times (National Report of Russia, 1992). In the case of artificial radionuclides, a full
0375-6742/99/$ – see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 5 - 6 7 4 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 0 3 - 5
334
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
Table 1 Vulnerability of European soils to degradation (after Fraters, 1994) Soil type
Erosion
Black earth Sands Acid loams Non-acid loams Clays Acid, shallow Non-acid, shallow Semi-arid Salt-affected Wet Peat and muck
**** ******* *********** *********** **** *********** *********** *********** *******
Compaction
Acidification
Pollution
*********** *********** *********** *******
*********** *********** ******* **** ***********
*********** *********** ******* **** *********** *****
****
***********
******* Depends on landuse and=or reclamation type
**** D slight, ******* D moderate, ********* D high.
soil survey has not been carried out. After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, radioactive contamination of the land surface was more then 40G Bq=km2 in a zone of 55,000 km2 around the Chernobyl power station (National Report of Russia, 1992). Soil acidification is an important trigger for releasing iron, aluminium, calcium, magnesium and heavy metals to soil solutions. Soluble heavy metal compounds pose a danger to plants and waters. In agriculture, acidification is neutralised by liming. In the Russian Federation it is estimated that 5 million ha of arable lands are strongly acidified despite liming (National Report of Russia, 1992). Acidification of soils is also observed in Poland. Several years of investigations by the Regional Agro-Chemical Laboratories have shown that some 25% of soils are characterised by pH below 4.5 despite an increase of liming (Korytkowski and Wojewo´dzki, 1993).
2. Examples of hot spots A significant heavy metals hot spot is located in the central part of the Katowice District (Upper Silesia) in Poland. Lead concentrations in the arable soil layer (0–20 cm) in more than 400 allotments ranged from 13 to ¾5000 ppm (mean 202 ppm) and cadmium from 0.46 to 52 (mean 6.7 ppm) (Gzyl and Marchwi´nska, 1995). In extreme cases concerning the whole area of the District, Pb values reached 8000 ppm and Cd 150 ppm (Gzyl et al., 1996). In the Katowice district, there are about 200 industrial
plants which are considered as particularly burdensome to the environment. Some 55% of national steel production, 97% of black coal (Central Statistical Office, 1997) and 100% of Zn–Pb ore-processing plants are located in the area. The highest emission emanates from the Katowice district although it covers only 2% of the country’s area. Among the fifteen districts with the highest emissions of Pb and Cd, the differences between the first and last is 13 times for Pb and 6 times for Cd (Hławiczka, 1998). In 1996, the main emissions in Poland totalled 959.7 tons Pb, 91.2 tons Cd, down by some 40% since 1980 (Hławiczka, 1997). The Polish contribution to the European emission of these metals is some 3% for Pb and 8% for Cd (S. Hławiczka, 1998, pers. commun.). The main sources of Pb and Cd emissions are fuel combustion for energy production, transport, and non-ferrous metal processing. Other examples of heavy metal hot spots include the Donetzk area (Ukraine), the Kuznetzk area (Russia), and the North Bohemian and Sokolow Brown-Coal Basins (Czech Republic) (Kabata-Pendias, 1995). Hot spots related to soil acidification are exemplified by the Turoszo´w area in the region of the Poland–Czech–German border and the former GDR. In the former, open pit lignite mining resulted in very strong acidification (pH 1.8–3.8), near dump sites where the waste contains sulphur and carbon. After some seventeen years of neutralisation and recultivation, the soil pH has increased to 6.0–6.5, and at some locations, plants are now growing over the dumps (Krzaklewski and Wo´jcik, 1996).
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
The Leipzig–Halle–Bitterfeld region is one of the most polluted areas of Europe. Sulphur-bearing lignite is mined and used in the energy and chemical industries. Since 1989, a substantial decrease in airborne deposition and change of soil pH has been recorded (Anonymous, 1995). In recent years, the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has established an international co-operation program between Central European countries which focuses on soil protection. An overview of methods currently applied in soil investigations in these countries and comparisons with international standards are being carried out (Terytze et al., 1996).
3. Soil protection in Poland and the Czech Republic 3.1. Legal aspects of soil protection in Poland In 1980, the Polish Parliament passed an Environmental Protection Act, which states that soil-covered land surfaces are under legal protection. This consists of the prevention of adverse changes, and in the case of damage or destruction, of restoration to a proper state. The definition of priorities to meet ecological objectives in terms of farming and food policy was enacted in 1992, and included a document on the ‘ecological policy of the state’. Agriculture and forest land protection was the subject of a separate act issued in 1995. The Waste Management Act of 1997 contains certain regulations concerning soil and water protection and landfill site management. There are no soil standards for permissible contents of contaminants such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, the only exception being the guide to the agricultural use of sludge and manure mixtures issued by the Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry. In the latter case, after fertilisation and irrigation, heavy metal contents cannot increase above certain values (Table 2). 3.2. Soil monitoring in Poland (1991–1995) The Polish Ministry of Agriculture has set up a country-wide soil and crop monitoring program co-
335
Table 2 Permissible heavy metal concentrations (mg=kg) in soils of Poland and the Czech Republic (Polish Governmental Legal Gazette, 1986; Vacek, 1994) Light soils
Pb Cd Zn Cu Cr Ni
Heavy soils
Poland
Czech Republic
Poland
Czech Republic
50 3 200 50 100 30
100 0.4 130 60 100 60
100 3 300 100 300 100
140 1 200 100 200 80
ordinated by the Institute of Soil Sciences and Cultivation of Plants (IUNG) in Pulawy. Some 45,000 soil samples and 25,000 plant samples will be analysed in Regional Agro-Chemical Laboratories. The conclusions presented below are based on the results from 24,000 soil and plant samples (Stuczynski et al., 1996): Approximately 80% of the total agricultural areas contain natural concentrations of heavy metals, and 17% exhibit elevated levels. Some 2.6% is contaminated by heavy metals, including 0.3% of area where crop production should be eliminated. 3.3. Legal aspect of soil protection in the Czech Republic The Czech National Council passed an act on the protection of agricultural land resources (Act No. 334) in 1992 (Vacek, 1994), which included maximum permissible values for heavy metals (Table 2). Background values are presented in Table 3.
Table 3 Background levels of heavy metals in sandy soils (mg=kg s.m.) in Poland and the Czech Republic (Kabata-Pendias, 1995; Podlesˇa´kova´ and Nˇemeˇcek, 1995)
Cd Pb Zn Cr Ni Cu
Poland
Czech Republic
0.19 12 27 9 5 5.5
0.15 32 46 32 16 13
336
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
3.4. Soil monitoring in the Czech Republic Soil monitoring has been carried out at 1250 sites in 28 uncontaminated and contaminated districts over 30 years (Podlesˇa´kova´ and Nˇemeˇcek, 1995; Podlesˇa´kova´ et al., 1996). The results indicate that for hazardous trace elements (1) no significant differences were found between the samples taken in the past and at present, and (2) heavy metal concentrations above background values were found in more than 75% of the samples. Concentrations of persistent organic xenobiotic substances (POPs) do not exceed the proposed limiting values, with the exception of benzoapyrene which was detected at industrial sites.
4. Policy of soil protection in Central European countries Several programs are being carried out with regard to soil protection (e.g., Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995; Terytze et al., 1996; Page, 1997) and results to date lead to the following conclusions: (1) International co-operation on soil protection must be enhanced since many of the problems go beyond national borders. (2) Appropriate government remediation programs combined with privatisation (purchasing of endangered properties) can lead to successful cleanup programs. (3) Standardised methods of soil investigation should be used in future studies. (4) Guidelines for contaminants should be established. (5) More efforts to develop prevention strategies are required. (6) Multi-functionality of soils should be preserved. (7) Databases (national and European) related to environmental risks is fundamental to future policy development.
References Anonymous, 1995. World in transition: the threat to soils. 1994 Annu. Rep., Economica Verlag, Bonn, pp. 206–214.
Central Statistical Office, 1997. Annual Districts Statistics. Warsaw. Fraters, D., 1994. Generalized soil map of Europe: Aggregation of the FAO–UNESCO soil units based on the characteristics determining the vulnerability to soil degradation processes. In: Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Eur. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Gzyl, J., Marchwi´nska, E., 1995. State of heavy metal contamination in the allotments situated in the Upper Silesia Region of Poland. In: van den Brink, W.J., Bosman, R., Arendt, F. (Eds.), Contaminated Soil ’95. Kluwer, Dodrecht, pp. 615–616. Gzyl, J., Kucharski, R., Marchwi´nska, E., Sajdak, G., 1996. Soil contamination with heavy metals in the Katowice District (Poland). Proc. Conf. Soil Monitoring in the Czech Republic, Brno, pp. 143–149. Hławiczka, S., 1997. Report on heavy metals emission in Poland for the year 1996. EMEP=Poland, Rep. 3=97, 3 pp. Hławiczka, S., 1998. Estimation of heavy metals emission into air from Polish territory, Part II. Emission in the years 1980– 1995 (in Polish). Kabata-Pendias, A., 1995. Heavy metals in soils— issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Int. Conf. Heavy Metals in the Environment, Hamburg, Proc., pp. 20–27. Korytkowski, J., Wojewo´dzki, T., 1993. Soil Protection in Poland. Symposium mit osterpaischen Staaten, Untersuchungsmethoden, Bewertungsmasstabe und staadliche Regelungen fu¨r den Bodenschutz, Schmallenberg, Proc., pp. 133–151. Krzaklewski, W., Wo´jcik, J., 1996. Rekultivierung der in den Grenz-gebieten gelegenen Braunkohlentagenbauen. Aura 4, 30–31. National Report of Russia, 1992. Status of the Environment in 1991. Eurasia — monitoring, 5. In: Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Europ. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Page, G.W., 1997. Contaminated Sites and Environmental Cleanup. Academic Press, New York. Podlesˇa´kova´, E., Nˇemeˇcek, J., 1995. Retrospective monitoring and inventory of soil contamination in relation to systematic monitoring. Environ. Monitoring Assessment 34, 121–125. Podlesˇa´kova´ E., Nˇemeˇcek, J., Ha´lova´, G., 1996. Soil contamination criteria used in the Czech Republic. Proc. ISCO Conf., Towards Sustainable Land Use, Bonn, pp. 22. Polish Governmental Legal Gazette, 1986. Decree of Minister of Environmental Protection (in Polish). No. 23, pp. 146–171. Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), 1995. Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Europ. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Stuczynski, T., Terelak H., Motowicka-Terelak, T., Piotrowska, M., Budzy´nska, K., 1996. Monitoring of heavy metals and sulfur in agricultural soils and plants in Poland. 3rd Int. Symp. Exhibition, Environmental Contamination in Central and Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Proc. Terytze, K., Fleischhauer, E., Schwerz, A., Mu¨ller-Wegener, U., Filip, Z., Mu¨ller, J., Gzyl, J., Kucharski, R., Sas-Nowosielska, A., Piesak, Z., Wcislo, E., Curlı´k, J., Fulajta´r, E., Fiala, K., Fulajta´r, E., Matu´skova´, L., Dzatko, M., Kuklı´k, M., Marek,
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337 V., Sanka, M., Staoa, J., Szabo´, P., Bartalos, T., Bu´sa´s, M., Csenke, Z., Horva´th, A., Koncz, I., Ko´sa, S., Nemesto´thy, B., Stefanovits, P., 1996. Methods in soil protection used in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Symp. osterpaischen Staaten, Untersuchungsmethoden, Bewertungs-
337
masstabe und staadliche Regelungen fu¨r den Bodenschutz, Schmallenberg. Vacek, V. (Ed.), 1994. Environmental Laws of the Czech Republic. VUSTE Servis s.p., Prague.
Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337 www.elsevier.com/locate/jgeoexp
Soil protection in Central and Eastern Europe Jadwiga Gzyl * Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, 6 Kossutha Street, 40-833 Katowice, Poland Accepted 24 February 1999
Abstract Monitoring of soils of Central and Eastern Europe has indicated that there are no nation-wide significant levels of pollutants, excepting a possible increase of acidification. However, numerous ‘hot spots’ of heavy metals and acidification resulting mainly from industrial and agricultural activities are present. In the past several years, new laws have been enacted with the explicit purpose of soil protection although further improvements are required. International co-operation must be enhanced since many of the problems go beyond national borders. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: soil protection; heavy metals; acidification; pollution
1. Introduction The soils of Central and Eastern Europe are largely comprised of the following groups: Orthic Luvisols and Podzols, Eutric and Dystric Cambisols, Rendzinas and Eutric Histosols, with lesser Fluvisols, Chernozems, Gleysols and Rankers. They originated from Quaternary sediments composed of glacial till, outwash and eolian deposits (KabataPendias, 1995). Soil degradation processes in Europe include pollution by heavy metals, organic contaminants (including pesticides), acidification, overfertilising and artificial radionuclides. Certain of these, including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxines, and artificial radionuclides result from industrial activities. Other important threats are water and wind erosion, soil compaction and losses of organic matter Ł E-mail:
[email protected]
through improper management practices (Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995). It is possible to rank soils in terms of their sensitivity to a particular stress such as their vulnerability to acidification and wind or water erosion; for example, sandy soils are much more vulnerable to acidification and pollution than black earth, while the vulnerability of loamy and clay soils lies between that of sandy soils and black earths (Table 1). The sources of heavy metals are mining and processing industries, combustion of fossil fuels, industrial plants, waste incineration plants and road traffic. They are introduced into the soil as wet or dry deposition. Organic pollutants such as PAHs, chlorinated hydrocarbons, PCBs and dioxins enter the soils through atmospheric deposition, contaminated water and waste disposal. For example, in the Russian Federation, the concentrations of PCBs in soils in industrial areas exceeded the national reference value by 20–30 times (National Report of Russia, 1992). In the case of artificial radionuclides, a full
0375-6742/99/$ – see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 5 - 6 7 4 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 0 3 - 5
334
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
Table 1 Vulnerability of European soils to degradation (after Fraters, 1994) Soil type
Erosion
Black earth Sands Acid loams Non-acid loams Clays Acid, shallow Non-acid, shallow Semi-arid Salt-affected Wet Peat and muck
**** ******* *********** *********** **** *********** *********** *********** *******
Compaction
Acidification
Pollution
*********** *********** *********** *******
*********** *********** ******* **** ***********
*********** *********** ******* **** *********** *****
****
***********
******* Depends on landuse and=or reclamation type
**** D slight, ******* D moderate, ********* D high.
soil survey has not been carried out. After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, radioactive contamination of the land surface was more then 40G Bq=km2 in a zone of 55,000 km2 around the Chernobyl power station (National Report of Russia, 1992). Soil acidification is an important trigger for releasing iron, aluminium, calcium, magnesium and heavy metals to soil solutions. Soluble heavy metal compounds pose a danger to plants and waters. In agriculture, acidification is neutralised by liming. In the Russian Federation it is estimated that 5 million ha of arable lands are strongly acidified despite liming (National Report of Russia, 1992). Acidification of soils is also observed in Poland. Several years of investigations by the Regional Agro-Chemical Laboratories have shown that some 25% of soils are characterised by pH below 4.5 despite an increase of liming (Korytkowski and Wojewo´dzki, 1993).
2. Examples of hot spots A significant heavy metals hot spot is located in the central part of the Katowice District (Upper Silesia) in Poland. Lead concentrations in the arable soil layer (0–20 cm) in more than 400 allotments ranged from 13 to ¾5000 ppm (mean 202 ppm) and cadmium from 0.46 to 52 (mean 6.7 ppm) (Gzyl and Marchwi´nska, 1995). In extreme cases concerning the whole area of the District, Pb values reached 8000 ppm and Cd 150 ppm (Gzyl et al., 1996). In the Katowice district, there are about 200 industrial
plants which are considered as particularly burdensome to the environment. Some 55% of national steel production, 97% of black coal (Central Statistical Office, 1997) and 100% of Zn–Pb ore-processing plants are located in the area. The highest emission emanates from the Katowice district although it covers only 2% of the country’s area. Among the fifteen districts with the highest emissions of Pb and Cd, the differences between the first and last is 13 times for Pb and 6 times for Cd (Hławiczka, 1998). In 1996, the main emissions in Poland totalled 959.7 tons Pb, 91.2 tons Cd, down by some 40% since 1980 (Hławiczka, 1997). The Polish contribution to the European emission of these metals is some 3% for Pb and 8% for Cd (S. Hławiczka, 1998, pers. commun.). The main sources of Pb and Cd emissions are fuel combustion for energy production, transport, and non-ferrous metal processing. Other examples of heavy metal hot spots include the Donetzk area (Ukraine), the Kuznetzk area (Russia), and the North Bohemian and Sokolow Brown-Coal Basins (Czech Republic) (Kabata-Pendias, 1995). Hot spots related to soil acidification are exemplified by the Turoszo´w area in the region of the Poland–Czech–German border and the former GDR. In the former, open pit lignite mining resulted in very strong acidification (pH 1.8–3.8), near dump sites where the waste contains sulphur and carbon. After some seventeen years of neutralisation and recultivation, the soil pH has increased to 6.0–6.5, and at some locations, plants are now growing over the dumps (Krzaklewski and Wo´jcik, 1996).
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
The Leipzig–Halle–Bitterfeld region is one of the most polluted areas of Europe. Sulphur-bearing lignite is mined and used in the energy and chemical industries. Since 1989, a substantial decrease in airborne deposition and change of soil pH has been recorded (Anonymous, 1995). In recent years, the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has established an international co-operation program between Central European countries which focuses on soil protection. An overview of methods currently applied in soil investigations in these countries and comparisons with international standards are being carried out (Terytze et al., 1996).
3. Soil protection in Poland and the Czech Republic 3.1. Legal aspects of soil protection in Poland In 1980, the Polish Parliament passed an Environmental Protection Act, which states that soil-covered land surfaces are under legal protection. This consists of the prevention of adverse changes, and in the case of damage or destruction, of restoration to a proper state. The definition of priorities to meet ecological objectives in terms of farming and food policy was enacted in 1992, and included a document on the ‘ecological policy of the state’. Agriculture and forest land protection was the subject of a separate act issued in 1995. The Waste Management Act of 1997 contains certain regulations concerning soil and water protection and landfill site management. There are no soil standards for permissible contents of contaminants such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, the only exception being the guide to the agricultural use of sludge and manure mixtures issued by the Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry. In the latter case, after fertilisation and irrigation, heavy metal contents cannot increase above certain values (Table 2). 3.2. Soil monitoring in Poland (1991–1995) The Polish Ministry of Agriculture has set up a country-wide soil and crop monitoring program co-
335
Table 2 Permissible heavy metal concentrations (mg=kg) in soils of Poland and the Czech Republic (Polish Governmental Legal Gazette, 1986; Vacek, 1994) Light soils
Pb Cd Zn Cu Cr Ni
Heavy soils
Poland
Czech Republic
Poland
Czech Republic
50 3 200 50 100 30
100 0.4 130 60 100 60
100 3 300 100 300 100
140 1 200 100 200 80
ordinated by the Institute of Soil Sciences and Cultivation of Plants (IUNG) in Pulawy. Some 45,000 soil samples and 25,000 plant samples will be analysed in Regional Agro-Chemical Laboratories. The conclusions presented below are based on the results from 24,000 soil and plant samples (Stuczynski et al., 1996): Approximately 80% of the total agricultural areas contain natural concentrations of heavy metals, and 17% exhibit elevated levels. Some 2.6% is contaminated by heavy metals, including 0.3% of area where crop production should be eliminated. 3.3. Legal aspect of soil protection in the Czech Republic The Czech National Council passed an act on the protection of agricultural land resources (Act No. 334) in 1992 (Vacek, 1994), which included maximum permissible values for heavy metals (Table 2). Background values are presented in Table 3.
Table 3 Background levels of heavy metals in sandy soils (mg=kg s.m.) in Poland and the Czech Republic (Kabata-Pendias, 1995; Podlesˇa´kova´ and Nˇemeˇcek, 1995)
Cd Pb Zn Cr Ni Cu
Poland
Czech Republic
0.19 12 27 9 5 5.5
0.15 32 46 32 16 13
336
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337
3.4. Soil monitoring in the Czech Republic Soil monitoring has been carried out at 1250 sites in 28 uncontaminated and contaminated districts over 30 years (Podlesˇa´kova´ and Nˇemeˇcek, 1995; Podlesˇa´kova´ et al., 1996). The results indicate that for hazardous trace elements (1) no significant differences were found between the samples taken in the past and at present, and (2) heavy metal concentrations above background values were found in more than 75% of the samples. Concentrations of persistent organic xenobiotic substances (POPs) do not exceed the proposed limiting values, with the exception of benzoapyrene which was detected at industrial sites.
4. Policy of soil protection in Central European countries Several programs are being carried out with regard to soil protection (e.g., Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995; Terytze et al., 1996; Page, 1997) and results to date lead to the following conclusions: (1) International co-operation on soil protection must be enhanced since many of the problems go beyond national borders. (2) Appropriate government remediation programs combined with privatisation (purchasing of endangered properties) can lead to successful cleanup programs. (3) Standardised methods of soil investigation should be used in future studies. (4) Guidelines for contaminants should be established. (5) More efforts to develop prevention strategies are required. (6) Multi-functionality of soils should be preserved. (7) Databases (national and European) related to environmental risks is fundamental to future policy development.
References Anonymous, 1995. World in transition: the threat to soils. 1994 Annu. Rep., Economica Verlag, Bonn, pp. 206–214.
Central Statistical Office, 1997. Annual Districts Statistics. Warsaw. Fraters, D., 1994. Generalized soil map of Europe: Aggregation of the FAO–UNESCO soil units based on the characteristics determining the vulnerability to soil degradation processes. In: Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Eur. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Gzyl, J., Marchwi´nska, E., 1995. State of heavy metal contamination in the allotments situated in the Upper Silesia Region of Poland. In: van den Brink, W.J., Bosman, R., Arendt, F. (Eds.), Contaminated Soil ’95. Kluwer, Dodrecht, pp. 615–616. Gzyl, J., Kucharski, R., Marchwi´nska, E., Sajdak, G., 1996. Soil contamination with heavy metals in the Katowice District (Poland). Proc. Conf. Soil Monitoring in the Czech Republic, Brno, pp. 143–149. Hławiczka, S., 1997. Report on heavy metals emission in Poland for the year 1996. EMEP=Poland, Rep. 3=97, 3 pp. Hławiczka, S., 1998. Estimation of heavy metals emission into air from Polish territory, Part II. Emission in the years 1980– 1995 (in Polish). Kabata-Pendias, A., 1995. Heavy metals in soils— issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Int. Conf. Heavy Metals in the Environment, Hamburg, Proc., pp. 20–27. Korytkowski, J., Wojewo´dzki, T., 1993. Soil Protection in Poland. Symposium mit osterpaischen Staaten, Untersuchungsmethoden, Bewertungsmasstabe und staadliche Regelungen fu¨r den Bodenschutz, Schmallenberg, Proc., pp. 133–151. Krzaklewski, W., Wo´jcik, J., 1996. Rekultivierung der in den Grenz-gebieten gelegenen Braunkohlentagenbauen. Aura 4, 30–31. National Report of Russia, 1992. Status of the Environment in 1991. Eurasia — monitoring, 5. In: Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Europ. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Page, G.W., 1997. Contaminated Sites and Environmental Cleanup. Academic Press, New York. Podlesˇa´kova´, E., Nˇemeˇcek, J., 1995. Retrospective monitoring and inventory of soil contamination in relation to systematic monitoring. Environ. Monitoring Assessment 34, 121–125. Podlesˇa´kova´ E., Nˇemeˇcek, J., Ha´lova´, G., 1996. Soil contamination criteria used in the Czech Republic. Proc. ISCO Conf., Towards Sustainable Land Use, Bonn, pp. 22. Polish Governmental Legal Gazette, 1986. Decree of Minister of Environmental Protection (in Polish). No. 23, pp. 146–171. Stanners, D., Bourdeau, P. (Eds.), 1995. Europe’s Environment — The Dobrisˇ Assessment. Europ. Environ. Agency, Copenhagen. Stuczynski, T., Terelak H., Motowicka-Terelak, T., Piotrowska, M., Budzy´nska, K., 1996. Monitoring of heavy metals and sulfur in agricultural soils and plants in Poland. 3rd Int. Symp. Exhibition, Environmental Contamination in Central and Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Proc. Terytze, K., Fleischhauer, E., Schwerz, A., Mu¨ller-Wegener, U., Filip, Z., Mu¨ller, J., Gzyl, J., Kucharski, R., Sas-Nowosielska, A., Piesak, Z., Wcislo, E., Curlı´k, J., Fulajta´r, E., Fiala, K., Fulajta´r, E., Matu´skova´, L., Dzatko, M., Kuklı´k, M., Marek,
J. Gzyl / Journal of Geochemical Exploration 66 (1999) 333–337 V., Sanka, M., Staoa, J., Szabo´, P., Bartalos, T., Bu´sa´s, M., Csenke, Z., Horva´th, A., Koncz, I., Ko´sa, S., Nemesto´thy, B., Stefanovits, P., 1996. Methods in soil protection used in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Symp. osterpaischen Staaten, Untersuchungsmethoden, Bewertungs-
337
masstabe und staadliche Regelungen fu¨r den Bodenschutz, Schmallenberg. Vacek, V. (Ed.), 1994. Environmental Laws of the Czech Republic. VUSTE Servis s.p., Prague.