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Research on Institutional Innovations in Control of
Soil Pollution by Heavy Metal in Zhejiang
Xiaohong LIU, Xijun YUInstitute of Economics,
University of Jiaxing, Zhejiang 0573-82623526, China
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract:With rapid development of economy, the heavy metal
pollution in soil has been a serious environmental problem in
Zhejiang. Thetypical events of heavy metal pollution happened in
Taizhou, Changxing, Fuyang & Ningbo. Under background of
environmental law,environmental taxes, remediation &
development of Brownfield and environmental labeling, etc, the
research focuses on the situation ofheavy metal pollution in soil
in Zhejiang and puts forwards six institutional innovations in
control of heavy metal pollution in soil. Theinstitutional system
will repress the trends of heavy metal pollution in soil with
clarifying the liability of pollution & solving the
remediationfund. At last the quality of soil will be improved and
the safety of farm products will be guaranteed, which will be
important to promote
ecological civilization in Zhejiang
Keywords:Zhejiang; soil pollution; heavy metal; institutional
innovations.
1 INTRODUCTION
The soil pollution by heavy metal is a serious problem in
the
world, which will be a great threat for human health. In
addition, the remediation of polluted soil is complicated
&
difficult. So it is significant to prevent soil pollution by
heavy metal.
Till now, the soil pollution by heavy metal in China isvery
serious. An investigation shows that 10 percent of the
soil has been polluted by heavy metal. There is 1000 tons of
grain polluted by heavy metal per year. The direct economic
loss is about 200 billion yuan (Xiaoqing Wu, 2006). In
2009, the lead pollution events of children occurred in
succession in Shaanxi, Henan & Yunan province. It is
just
the tip of the iceberg. Due to a process of long term
accumulation & lagged control of pollution, China is
facing
the threat of an intensive outburst of heavy metal
pollution.
The soil pollution has been topped the agenda of
environmental protection in China. The first national
conference on the control of the soil pollution was hold in
2008.The state department of environment putted forward
Advice About Strengthening Prevention of Soil Pollution
in June 2008. The minister Shengxian Zhou announced that
eight ministries are formulating The Comprehensive
Management Plan of Heavy Metal Pollution. On
Dec.25,2009, a leader commentator with China
Environment published an articleTo Prevent Heavy
Metal Pollution is Historical Responsibility for Regional
Government.
With the rapid development of economy in Zhejiang, the
scale of industry is constantly expanding with the rapid
growth of urbanization development. Chemical fertilizers
and pesticides are used much in Agricultural production. Asa
result, numerous harmful substances go into the eco-
system of soil. The soil pollution by heavy metal has been a
serious environmental problem in Zhejiang. The typical
events of heavy-metal contents exceeding impermissible
levels happened in Taizhou, Changing, Fuyang & Ningbo.
The soil pollution by heavy metal in Taizhou is caused by
the disassembling industry of waste electric appliance. The
cadmium & lead pollutions are from the storage battery
industry in Changxing. The arsenic, cadmium & leadpollutions
are from the copper smelting industry in Fuyang.
In Jinhua the pollution is from electroplating industry. In
Ningbo the unqualified rate of zinc, cadmium & lead in
vegetables was over 60%. The highest was cadmium, it was
85%. The unqualified rate of cadmium was 72.3%( Yan
Zhou, 2003). Diversified soil pollution appeared in
Zhejiang. The kinds of heavy metal pollution are increasing.
The compound pollution by organic pollution and abio-
contaminates happened. Zhejiang is paying attention to the
soil pollution by heavy metal in recent years, which has
been deployed in The New-Three-Year Implementation
Solution of 811 Environmental Protection.
Due to the concealment & hysteresis of soil pollution by
heavy metal, the environmental awareness of the whole
society is weak. On basis of The Comprehensive
Management Plan of Heavy Metal Pollution& The New-
Three-Year Implementation Solution of 811 Environmental
Protection, This research provides thoroughly analysis on
the macro-management of heavy metal pollution in soil and
focuses on raising the quality of soil environment in order
to
guarantee the safety of farm products and promote
ecological civilization in Zhejiang.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
978-1-4244-5326-9/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
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Foreign researches on heavy metal pollution in soil have the
following features: 1. The study of laws and rules has been
paid great attention as well as legislation. A series of
laws
on preventing heavy metal pollution in soil have
promulgated and put into effect in USA, UK, Germany,
Canada and Japan, etc. The Congress of the United States
passed Superfund Act in 1980. Germany enforced the
Law of National Soil Protection in 1999. Countermeasures
for Control and Prevention of soil pollution were put into
force in Japan in 2005. Some foreign scholars and
institutions have made theory and empirical studies on
prevention effect of compensation liability in order to find
the factors affecting the implementation benefits of
prevention law on heavy metal pollution in soil. Then the
related policies and measures will be improved to promote
the prevention of heavy metal pollution in soil Alberini
and Austin2002Stafford2003. 2. Researches from
Multi-angle and studies on institutional innovations. Based
on different preference, Chalak analyzed the willingness to
pay for decreasing the use of insecticides and calculated
theinsecticide tax according to the negative externality
produced by the use of insecticides. It was found that
consumers were willing to pay higher price for different
eco-labeled products. Therefore, the producer will adopt
environment friendly technology and take compensation by
environmental labeling (Loureiro & McCluskey,2002;
Bjorner,2004; Shen,2007). The experiences that U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) checked up &
developed the Brownfield show that joint participation will
promote efficiency of controlling and developing the soil
pollution by heavy metal, which depends on coordination of
the parties involved, handling of Contradictions,
buildingpartnership & support from related
institutionsU.A.S.EPA
2007.3.The pollution sites of industrial enterprises &
Brownfield are key areas. The ecosystem service values to
check up sites polluted by heavy metal were estimated. In
addition, an analysis on real estate price influenced by the
clearance project of hazardous wastes was made. The
benefit of the clearance project funded by Superfund was
calculated indirectly (Greenstone,2005 . Influence on
Brownfield by the joint and several liabilities was
discussed
(Sigman,2006.
Domestic researches on heavy metal pollution in soil have
two main features: 1. The study is at primary stage. Some
researches focused on situation & Countermeasures of
heavy metal pollution in soil. The others emphasized the
influence to safety of farm products (Qiang Luo, 2004;
Yongming Luo & Ying Teng, 2006; Sucai Yang &
Zhongren Nan, 2006; Chao Chen, 2006; Shuhua Ru &
Shiyou Sun, 2006). 2. The prevention & remediation were
discussed from the view of technology innovation. But
comprehensive and thorough research on institutional
innovations was lacked. The process, effect &
remediation
of heavy metal pollution in soil were analyzed specially
(Yifu Zhou & Yaying Dong,2003; Xin Wang, 2004). The
phytoremediation, bioremediation & Genetic Technology
applied in soil pollution by heavy metal were discussed
(Zhenghua Wu & Yufeng Zhang, 2002; Meiwei Zhao & Li
Ta,2007; Lili Cheng, Shengzhe E, 2009).
3 ANALYSIS ON CONTROL OF HEAVY METAL
POLLUTION IN SOIL IN ZHEJIANG
The heavy metal pollution in soil in Zhejiang is very
serious. The ranges of polluted soil are large. Compound
&
high-risk polluted areas appeared. An investigation on soil
quality in Zhejiang shows that Grade III is account for
82.03%, the polluted soil 17.97%. Light polluted soil in
Hangjiahu Plain is 85.7% of polluted soil, medium level
polluted soil 11.30%, serious polluted soil 3%.
The pollution field is vast. The pollution of agricultural
field & urban sites are coexisted. The disassembling
industry of waste electric appliance has developed over 30
years in Taizhou. The total of employed people numbered
over 0.1 million. The total amount of disassembling
wasteelectric appliance imported per year is over 2 million
tons.
Due to decentralized management & improper operations,
disassembling waste water & gas polluted the soil
nearby.
An investigation in Taizhou shows that 48.1%63.0%
,53.3% and 80% of the soil sample exceeded the criterion
for Cu ,Cd ,PAHs and PCDD/Fs respectively.
The pollution ways are diversified. The pollution from
agriculture, industry & residential source presents
superimposed tendency. Fertilizer is one of the most
important sources of heavy metal pollution. An
investigation in a city in Zhejiang shows that 437kg of
fertilizer per hectare on average was used in 2007,
compared with the safety upper limit of 225kg in
developedcountries. In addition, a high level of Cu and Zn in
compound feed additives resulted in unqualified rate of
heavy metal in soil. An investigation on heavy metal
contents in pig feces in Zhejiang shows that 180.4mg/Kg,
1.45mg/Kg, 13.63mg/Kg and 790.3mg/Kg of the soil
sample seriously exceeded the criterion for As ,Cd , Cr and
Cu respectively in standard GB 8172-87(Yan Zhou, 2003).
Industrial Emission of Waste Gas & water from industrial
and mining enterprises deepened the soil compound
pollution. The rivers were polluted by the waste water. The
surface water irrigation resulted in pollution by organic
toxicants & Heavy metals. Some pollutant accumulated insoil
by air settlement. For example, sulfur dioxide causes
acid rain that poisons soil.
The study shows that the heavy metal pollution in soil in
Zhejiang is very serious. It is urgent to improve
environmental quality of soil.
3.1 Institutional innovations in control of heavy metal
pollution in soil in Zhejiang
The work in prevention and control of heavy metal
Pollution is a systematic project. It should use legal,
economic, technology and necessary administrative
measures in a comprehensive way. The principle of giving
priority to prevention, incorporating to protection should
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be carried out. The key is to implement institutional
innovations. Based on the actual situation, Zhejiang should
led the way in building institutional innovations on
prevention and control of heavy metal pollution in soil in
current and recent period. The six institutional innovations
are as follows:
Two-Way compensation system of agricultural soil.The
compensation principles are as follows: If micro-
economic subject reduced the heavy metal pollution in
soil during the operation period, the local collective
economy or local government shall give appropriate
compensations. If micro-economic subject increased
heavy metal pollution in soil during the operation
period, the subject shall give compensations to the local
collective economy or local government. The
compensating part & the compensated part do
compensation directly. The compensation standard is
calculated on basis of soil protection cost & soil
remediation cost respectively. The compensation &
remediation System of
Enterprises. The compensation principles of polluted
sites are as follows: new enterprises must carry out soil
quality monitoring when they buy land. The local
environment protecting department should urge
enterprises to perform risk assessment when the
enterprise is bankrupt, transferred or moved. The
polluted enterprise should entrust specialized agency to
prevent & restore polluted soil. The cost of the
expedition should be defrayed by the enterprise.
Green insurance system of soil. In case an accident ofheavy
metal pollution in soil occurs & causes damageto a third party.
The objects of insurance are the
liability to pay compensation or remediation cost
according to law. Responsibility will disperse to
insurance community from the person responsible for
the pollution. It is fit for the principle polluted part
paying. Using experience of developed countries for
reference, combining with situation in Zhejiang, Green
insurance system of soil should be carried out on
voluntary and compulsory basis. For the near term,
factories, mines and other enterprises, which are likely
to cause heavy metal pollution in soil, are main
insurers. The enterprises with high risk of heavy
metalpollution, including thermal plant, plating company,
dyeing factory, chemical factory, solid-waste
disassembling factory, etc., should take coercive
insurance measures.
Deposit system of soil protection. The deposit shouldbe paid, if
the act of production & operation is likely to
cause heavy metal pollution in soil. When the operation
ends, the quality of soil is tested to meet the
requirement, the deposit is refunded. Otherwise the
deposit will be confiscated as a fund source of
preventing heavy metal pollution in soil.
Labeling & certification system of soil ecologyTherelevant
departments mark the level of soil quality for
the grain, vegetables, melons and fruits provided by
large-scale agricultural enterprises. Eco-label system of
soil quality improves & perfects the systems of green
and organic foods. It is the strong move to promote
prevention of heavy metal pollution in soil &
Optimization of soil quality. As the environmental
awareness & ecological ideas of the whole society are
getting stronger day by day, people pay more attention
to the base of farm products soil. Consumers are
willing to pay higher price for farm products in better
quality soil. This is a kind of compensation system for
better quality soil by the conscious utilization of market
price mechanism.
The special fund system of soil. Using U.S. SuperfundAct as
reference, the institutional system of preventing
heavy metal pollution should be built with
characteristics of Zhejiang. Certain duties will be
imposed on production, import & export of chemical
products, solid-waste disassembling products,petroleum products,
which are likely to cause heavy
metal pollution in soil. The special fund can be used for
prevention of heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil
in the early period because of the difficulty in raising
funds for protection of agricultural soil.
4 CONCLUSION
Heavy metal pollution in soil imperils the safety of farm
products & drinking water. At last it may bring harm to
human health and social stabilization. Therefore to preventheavy
metal pollution is the historical responsibility for
regional government. The heavy metal pollution in soil in
Zhejiang is very serious. It is urgent to use theories and
practices both at home and abroad for reference. The
institutional system of preventing heavy metal pollution
should be built. This paper puts forwards six institutional
innovations in prevention of heavy metal pollution in soil.
The institutional system will repress the trends of heavy
metal pollution in soil with clarifying the liability of
pollution & solving the remediation fund. At last the
quality
of soil will be improved and the safety of farm products
will
be guaranteed, which will be important to promote
ecological civilization in Zhejiang.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported by the Provincial Social
Science Foundation of Zhejiang.
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