Sources of soil contamination

As with water pollution, soil contamination can come from widespread sources or from concentrated, localized sources.

Industrial pollution is often accidental, caused by spillage during loading/unloading, broken pipes, etc. However, it is sometimes chronic and more insidious, for example when an underground tank leaks for years or small amounts of liquid spill onto a cracked cement slab week after week.

What sorts of products are in contaminated soil?

There are many kinds of soil contaminants depending on the type of pollution.

What is a contaminated site?

A polluted site is a site rife with former waste deposits or infiltrated with hazardous substances, polluted with substances likely to be harmful or to present a long-term risk to people or the environment.
Most contaminated sites are either old or active industrial facilities, hydrocarbon storage facilities or poorly managed landfills. A site that was occupied by successive industrial activities over many years may be polluted with several types of contaminants (hydrocarbons, heavy metals*, etc.) of varying ages, depending on the site's history. The contaminants may also be located in different parts of the sites.

Contaminated sites in France

Official statistics published in the February 2005 Basol survey identified 3,735 contaminated sites in France. Of these, 37% are located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rhône-Alpes and Ile-de-France regions. More than one third are contaminated with hydrocarbons, either solely or in combination with other compounds. The number of contaminated sites may actually be much higher. According to the BRGM Basias survey, there are an estimated 300,000 sites with current or former industrial or storage activities that are potentially contaminated.
The constantly growing market for rehabilitating polluted sites and soils achieved a 340 million euro turnover in 2003 (industry turnover, BIPE predictions).