Problems of Rationing the Content of Chemical Elements and Compounds in Soils in Law-Enforcement Practice

Abstract

Rationing of the content of hazardous substances in soil as an object of environmental protection in the Russian Federation is provided by a set of normative acts establishing the principles of assessment, approaches to the use of soils of varying degrees of anthropogenic transformation, and the level of their pollution at which the responsibility of the land user for violation of legislation on soil protection occurs. Analysis of normative acts shows that the most stringent pollution regulation system has been established in Russia, which is based on determining the compliance of the content of chemical elements and compounds in soils with sanitary and hygienic standards in the territories of settlements and agricultural lands. On other lands, the value of the concentration of the pollutant in the adjacent territory of a similar purpose and type of use, which is not adversely affected by a specific type of violation, is applied as a standard, exceeding which leads to the onset of economic responsibility for pollution. At the same time, chemical elements and compounds are considered as pollutants, regardless of their origin, degree of danger, and biological significance. The application of this approach within the framework of law-enforcement practice creates significant problems in establishing the fact of negative impact, calculating the amount of damage from pollution, and developing measures for soil remediation. Thus, the current regulations consider substances of natural origin, including those that ensure soil fertility and are applied with mineral and organic fertilizers, as pollutants. The use of the background level of substances as the maximum permissible value does not take into account the natural variability of elements and compounds in soils, as well as the errors of their chemical analysis. The excessive rigidity of the applicable standards is the reason for the increased costs of soil remediation measures.

The way out of this situation is to revise the rationing system, taking into account the biological significance of elements and compounds, and the need to introduce a multilevel system of soil-quality indicators. There is a need to improve the conceptual framework as a part of regulatory documents on soil protection.