Soil is generally defined as the top layer of the earth's crust, formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms. Soil forms the interface between land, air and water and houses most of the biosphere.
Soil is a non-renewable natural resource in the short term, it takes tens of thousands of years to form and can suffer degradation in a few years, sometimes in just a few hours.
Electricity generation and distribution activities carry the risk of soil contamination from the use of oils, fuels, other chemicals, waste production and storage, and landfill management of waste from coal flue gas treatment.
Soil and groundwater
Soil is a non-renewable natural resource
Good practices for pollution prevention and soil protection
To minimize the environmental impact on the soil, the risk of contamination is identified and assessed in accordance with the Environmental Risk Management Manual and the following good environmental practices for contamination prevention and control are adopted:
Environmental liabilities are identified according to:
- the European law on environmental liability;
- the due diligence process.
Employees, including service providers, are trained and made aware of the risks, consequences and ways of acting to eliminate or minimize the effects of an environmental occurrence with potential for soil contamination;
The use of prohibited pesticides in Europe (more stringent legislation) is prohibited;
There are procedures for handling, loading and unloading and storing products with potential to contaminate;
Equipment and materials are installed for the containment and isolation of possible accidental spills (containment / retention tanks, absorbent material containers, gutter and sink isolation devices, etc.);
The storage of hazardous products is duly approved and registered with the competent authorities, endowed with the preventive measures established by the regulation and with the preventive maintenance that ensures their good condition;
Hazardous substance stores are preferably covered, which prevents or minimizes the entry of rainwater and thus the leaching of possible contaminants;
Hazardous substance handling areas are paved, waterproof and, where appropriate, have insulated containment systems (basins or similar), which are not connected to any sanitation network;
Action in emergency scenarios (among others, those resulting from damage, fire, earthquake, explosion, acts of vandalism or sabotage, floods) is defined and is periodically trained;
Piezometer networks exist for groundwater quality control in case the risk of contamination is not negligible;
Notification is made to official entities if damage or an imminent threat of environmental damage is identified in the following situations:
- spill having occurred in natural habitats and protected species;
- spon analyzing types of soil, down to underlying layers of it, the values were found to surpass those of the Ontario Standards reference.
We work to preserve resources
