On Jan 14th, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced the release of two revised drafts of national standards of soil quality (GB 15618-1995) for public comment. The two drafts are “Draft of the Quality Standard of Agriculture Land and Draft of Guidance on Risk Selection of Construction Land Pollution”. They are both open for public comments.
GB 15618-1995 includes concentration limits for 10 chemical elements and pollutants, of which the concentration of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and Dichloro-Diphenyl-Tricgloroethane (DDT) are further restricted in the drafts. 10 more pollutants have also been added into the agricultural land monitoring list such as the manganese and cobalt chemicals.
The Report on the National Survey of Soil Contamination released by MEP and Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) in 2014 showed the severe situation of soil contamination in China. According to the report, over 30% of industrial lands are heavily contaminated, especially in the industrial bases like Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas. Cadmium, Mercury, Arsenic and Lead chemicals are the main soil pollutants. The worsening soil quality in China calls for more specific and stringent environmental and technical standards. The two newly released drafts will supplement the existing regulations and standards including GB 15618-1995 and HJ 25.1~4-2014. The new drafts focus on prevention of pollution, specifically preventing pollutants reaching the concentrations limits specified in other standards.
