Regional Sites, an update on remediation: nearly one in two municipalities involved, over 16,000 active proceedings in Italy
Published the IV ISPRA report "The fourth report on the contaminated sites management at regional level"
The 46% of Italy’s municipalities, equal to 3,619 municipalities, are affected by at least one remediation procedure ongoing as of 1 January 2024; 70% of regional remediation procedures have been concluded without the need for remediation and/or safety measures; on average, 1,190 new remediation procedures are initiated nationwide each year.
This is highlighted in the 4th Report on the Remediation of Regional Sites published by ISPRA, which presents and analyses data relating to remediation procedures updated as of 1 January 2024. The report is based on data submitted by SNPA, the Regions, and the Autonomous Provinces for the 2024 population of MOSAICO, the national database on remediation procedures. The analyses cover 16,365 ongoing remediation procedures and 22,191 completed remediation procedures.
Summary of the data emerging from the report:
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The initiation of a remediation procedure does not automatically entail the need for a remediation intervention; such an obligation arises only after the necessary assessments have been carried out. An intervention proved necessary for only 30% of sites.
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Nationwide, 3,243 procedures are recorded in the remediation intervention phase, of which 2,601 have ongoing interventions and 642 have completed works that have not yet been certified.
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28% of procedures in the intervention/remediation phase are located in Lombardy, 12% in Piedmont, and 11% in Tuscany.
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At national level, 484 orphan sites are recorded, of which 225 are funded and 55 had their procedures concluded as of 1 January 2024. Orphan sites are those for which no party, in any capacity, has fulfilled the obligations laid down by regulations for remediation procedures. These are mainly “historical” sites, for which public authorities have only recently taken action by allocating funding linked to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
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Most sites for which surface-area information is available are small in size: 70% of administrative areas are smaller than 10,000 m², and 30% are even below 1,000 m²; in 18% of cases, the surface area exceeds 20 hectares.
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What is the duration of remediation procedures in Italy? According to national data, half of the procedures concluded with remediation or safety measures are completed in less than four years, while only 25% require at least eight years.
