Press Release

December 18, 2014
  • Water & Soil

Results of FY 2013 Survey of the Implementation of the Act to Prevent Soil Contamination on Agricultural Land

The MOE has been promoting the countermeasures against soil contamination on agricultural land with MAFF and compiled the results of the FY 2013 Survey of the Implementation of the Act to Prevent Soil Contamination on Agricultural Land. Under the Act, each prefectural governor shall continuously monitor the condition of agricultural land soil pollution caused by Hazardous Substances (cadmium, copper and arsenic), and prefecture governors can designate the areas for countermeasures when the concentration of hazardous substances exceed its limit.

Summary of the survey results:
(1) As a result of the continuous monitoring, 5 areas exceeded the regulatory standards for cadmium.
(2) There was no newly designated area for countermeasures.
There was no area where a new plan for countermeasures was formulated.
The designation was all canceled in one area and partially canceled in another one area.
At the end of FY 2013, 72 areas had been designated in total. Among those areas designation was all canceled in 55 areas and are still in place in 17 areas.
(3) At the end of FY 2013, 6,962 ha (91.7%) of all designated areas have completed their countermeasures.

The complete survey results can be accessed on the following website (Japanese only):
https://www.env.go.jp/press/files/25644.pdf

For Japanese

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