Czech Republic still grappling with legacy of industrial and military contamination
The Czech Republic is still dealing with an environmental legacy left by decades of poor management when little attention was paid to protecting nature. The latest case involving possible contamination at a former military training area in the Klatovy region is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more places across the country that require investigation or clean-up.
During the communist era in particular, hazardous substances were stored or disposed of at numerous locations across former Czechoslovakia. They came from the chemical industry, military facilities and landfills, as well as from fuel storage sites and mining operations. Even after these activities ended, pollutants remained in the soil, as well as in groundwater and surface water.
According to the Czech Register of Contaminated Sites administered by the Environment Ministry, there are over 7,000 contaminated sites in the Czech Republic requiring attention. The substances involved vary from site to site, but typical pollutants include chlorinated solvents, petroleum products and heavy metals. Tomáš Cajthaml of Charles University's Faculty of Science explains the procedure.
“Once contamination is discovered, we assess how dangerous it is, how much of it there is, what combination of pollutants is involved and whether it poses a threat to the surrounding area. This determines the priorities. If a site is particularly dangerous, it is placed in category A. There are currently around 490 such sites. These are the sites that should be, or already are being, cleaned-up.”
The Czech Republic has a particularly significant legacy from the chemical industry, including what Cajthaml describes as its history of chlorine-based chemistry. Chlorinated dioxins, for example, were found at the Spolana chemical plant in Neratovice, where clean-up work has already been completed.
The range of contaminants is extensive. Petroleum products are among the most common because spills occurred frequently and in many different places. Heavy metals are also found at sites associated with particular types of industrial production.
The military has also left its mark on the countryside. The Czech armed forces generally deal with contamination linked to their own activities, but the country also inherited a substantial environmental burden from the Soviet military which was stationed here for two decades. There are around 150 such sites. About 50 have been remediated, another 50 are considered relatively safe, while the remaining sites are still being dealt with.
Contaminated sites are most densely concentrated in Prague, Brno and Ostrava, as well as in the Podkrušnohorská Basin, the Elbe lowlands and parts of the Plzeň region. These are areas with a long history of heavy industrial activity. By type, municipal waste landfills are the most common, accounting for almost 46 percent of all contaminated sites.
New technologies are being developed to tackle the problem, but there is no single solution. Different pollutants and locations require different approaches. There are dozens of technologies available, varying in their suitability, reliability, cost and effectiveness.
Research is continuing in the Czech Republic, which Cajthaml says is among the European leaders in the field. One of the main current challenges is mixed contamination. Technologies may be designed to remove a single pollutant or group of pollutants, since contamination often involves a mixture of substances from industrial production, waste or accidental spills.
Despite the scale of the problem and the cost of remediation, Cajthaml remains cautiously optimistic that the most dangerous sites can eventually be dealt with.
“It can take a long time. The clean-up of the Lhenice landfill, for example, took 25 years. It involved massive contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls, but fortunately the site has now been cleaned-up. Then there are more problematic sites such as Nelahozeves, where there are 20,000 contaminated barrels and the clean-up has currently stalled. Nevertheless, work is continuing at most sites. They are being monitored, remediated or monitored after remediation, or preparations are under way for clean-up. So I am relatively optimistic.”
