Frame construction of national classification system for contaminated sites in China

Abstract: Contaminated sites, which are caused by the industrialization of society, have gradually become a worldwide environmental problem. This problem has brought serious threats to human health and environmental safety. Implementation of scientific management is needed to solve the contamination problem of the sites. Effective category management is the key to achieving contaminated site management nationwide, while the core of classification management for contaminated sites is national classification. Classification management of contaminated sites at the national level can be achieved through national classification of contaminated sites, so that the limited resources will be distributed among the contaminated sites that are badly in need of treatment. During the sustainable development of industrialization and urbanization in the past 30 years in China, socio-economic and people's living have been hugely improved, but many environmental problems have been brought to light by an industrial development pattern of "high input, high consumption, high pollution". The contaminate sites are one of the major environmental problems. On the one hand, there are many contaminated sites with different types distributed widely in China; on the other hand, the costs of remediation for these contaminated sites are very expensive, making it impossible for the government to remediate all of the contaminated sites. It is proposed for the government to construct a national classification of contaminated sites. In addition to the analytic hierarchy process and numerical addition method, researchers also completed a literature analysis method, qualitative and quantitative research methods, environmental risk assessment method and system analysis method for this paper. The construction of a national classification system for contaminated sites mainly includes: (1)Three kinds of assessment factors which include pollution characteristics, migration pathway and pollution receptor as determined by the analysis of the produce and diffusion for soil pollution. (2) The national classification framework is constructed using the site evaluation factors structured by the method of analytic hierarchy process and with the corresponding weights of an orderly restructuring in accordance. (3) By combining the reorganization of the factor with numerical parameters with risk, the qualitative judgment is transformed into quantitative operational numerical. (4) According to the score summary results of the site evaluation factors, the contaminated sites are divided into five types: national priority site for remediation (75≤S≤100), the sites need to take action (60≤S＜75), the sites limited to use (45≤S＜60), the site that needs no action (S＜45), and insufficient information site (deterministic percentage for the data of site＜85%). The purpose of the study on national classification for contaminated sites identified: (1) The research results can provide technical support and basis for national priority site of remediation and classification management, thus the limited human, material and financial resources will be used for the sites of urgent need for risk management and remediation. (2) The government can take targeted measures according to different risk levels of contaminated sites in order to achieve the unified and standardized management of contaminated sites all over the country. (3) It can provide foundation for the construction of a national contaminated sites database and management for contaminated sites, which helps to promote the management of contaminated sites to develop in the direction of the institutionalization and standardization in China.