Remediation of contaminated sites

Israel is laggng far behind the U.S. and Europe in establishing strong legal mechanisms and effective government oversight necessary to securing industry accountability for contamination and remediation of contaminated land and water resources.

There are dozens of contaminated sites where chemical industries, sewage plants, gas filling stations, military bases, ammunitions manufacturers, etc. have discharged toxic and carcinogenic substances into the ground. In many cases, contaminants continue to pollute water, air and land resources, particularly at defunct industrial complexes formerly run by the Israel Military Industries.

The coastal aquifer,one of Israel's three sources of potable water, is heavily polluter and soem 20 per cent of the country's drilled wells have been taken out of service in the last ten years because of contamination.

Contaminated sites near populated areas are now prime real estate, with developers posed to begin building homes, schools and businesses.

Yet to date there is no comprehensive legal or fiscal framework available for investigating, identifying and remediating contaminated sites.

IUED is spearheading the call for a major new approach to cleanup of contaminated sites. In a first step, IUED drafted an amendment National Planning & Building Law mandating environmental risks surveys and clean-up plans relating to air, soil and water resources at contaminated sites as a precondition for deposit of development schemes. The amendment has been approved in preliminary reading (January 2007) in the Knesset.

In the meantime, developers are pushing ahead and there is a real danger of new neighborhoods being constructed on toxic sites, particularly in the Tel Aviv area.

 

Read more about IUED's key interventions relating to contaminated sites: