Description
A potentially contaminated site is defined as an area in which, as a result of past or ongoing human activities, an alteration of the qualitative characteristics of the environmental matrices (soil, subsoil and groundwater) is found that represents a potential risk to human health.
Notification of potential pollution is made by public and private parties who, in any capacity (e.g. as manager, owner, user of an area, other interested party, public administration, etc.), discover the occurrence of potentially contaminating events, have analyses of environmental matrices with concentrations greater than the risk threshold concentrations (CSC) or ascertain the presence of historical contamination.
Article 77 bis of the TULP and Article 242 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 prescribe that the notification must be sent to the Province, APPA, Prefect and Municipality where the site is located within 24 hours of the event or the identification of historical contamination that has determined the situation of potential or current contamination of the site.
At the same time as sending the notification, the person responsible for the pollution must initiate prevention or emergency safety operations to prevent the contamination from spreading or causing damage to man or the environment.
Once the necessary initial preventive measures have been implemented, the person responsible carries out, in the areas affected by the contamination, a preliminary investigation on the parameters subject to the pollution and, where it is ascertained that the level of the contamination threshold concentrations (CSC) has not been exceeded, restores the contaminated area, notifying, with appropriate self-certification, the Municipality and the Province competent for the territory within 48 hours of the notification.
If, on the other hand, the preliminary investigation ascertains that the CSCs have been exceeded, even for just one parameter, the person responsible for the pollution must immediately notify the Municipality and the Province with territorial jurisdiction, with a description of the prevention and emergency safety measures adopted.
This opens the reclamation/reclamation procedure proper, which develops in stages defined by specific rules based on the type of site, according to different preliminary procedures requiring specific documentation and forms.