Within the framework of the tender, which will be financed by the Ministry of Finance, the scope of contaminated lands in Israel will be assessed, characterization of different pollutants in the soil will be undertaken and the cost of surveying and remediating all contaminated lands in Israel will be estimated. The tender will play a major part in the advancement of the draft Contaminated Lands Law  , which was published by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and distributed for comment in December 2008. In addition, it will assist, inter alia, in formulating a national priority list for treating contaminated land in Israel.

Contaminated Lands in Israel

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has compiled information on about 1250 sites in Israel which are contaminated by fuel, oils, metals and chloro-organic compounds. Most of these pollutants are hazardous to human health and to the environment and others are known or suspected carcinogens. At the same time, based on its experience and on knowledge accumulated worldwide, the Ministry estimates that thousands more sites are contaminated in Israel. Without proper environmental treatment, the public may be exposed to these pollutants by such means as inhalation of soil gases, skin contact with the soil and swallowing, either directly or indirectly, and inhalation of particles of contaminated land. Additionally, soil pollution is hazardous to the environment, flora and fauna.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection, along with the Ministries of Finance, Justice and other relevant bodies, is currently advancing a draft law on the Prevention of Soil Contamination and Treatment of Contaminating Lands. In order to assess the scope of the problem in Israel, to promote the draft law and to prepare for its implementation, additional information which will serve government ministries must be gathered. Such information will assist, inter alia, in decision making on national priorities for the remediation of contaminated sites in Israel and in estimating the necessary budget for remediation.

In order to compile the necessary data, the Ministry of Environmental Protection published a tender in 2009, with the following requirements:

• Conducting spatial historic surveys at a national level and focused historic surveys for select sites.
• Determining the ownership of the land in areas in which land contamination is suspected and assessing the owners'/holders' responsibility for the pollution.
• Assessing the costs of land/soil gas surveys and land remediation, including the sites designated in the spatial historic survey.
• Detailed assessment for each site for which a focused historic survey was conducted.
• Economic assessment - assessment of changes in the land value, differences in real estate values for non-treated contaminated land and treated contaminated land, including land designation aspects.
• Reviewing additional aspects of contaminated land assessment and their economic implications.

Israel Environmental Protection Ministry Publishes a Memorandum on a Draft Contaminated Lands Law