The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the contamination of the soil located in an area next to the Llobregat River, near Mercabarna, where railway access works to the Port of Barcelona are planned.
According to legal sources, the investigations by the Environmental Service of the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office are not judicialized, but several requests have been made to the City Council, owner of the contaminated soils.
The council has decided to close the land to the public while soil analysis work lasts to determine whether decontamination of the area should be carried out. The environmental entity DEPANA reported the case to the Prosecutor’s Office.
This is not the first time that contamination of land near the Port or the Free Trade Zone has been discovered. This happened a few years ago on the land where the new Free Trade Zone prison is being built, whose land had to be decontaminated before starting the work.
The contamination affects three plots, owned by Barcelona City Council, and which are located in the area where the new road and rail access roads to the Port are planned. Hexavalent chromium is an element classified as a contaminant and is considered a risk to human health since it is potentially carcinogenic.
The Mossos d’Esquadra collected soil samples in the plot located in the bed of the Llobregat river, between the Mercabarna bridge and the Nelson Mandela bridge.
The results, prepared by the Toxicological and Environmental Assessment Service. from the National Institute of Toxicology, showed very high levels of chromites, a dangerous waste that has serious effects on health due to exposure when contaminated soil is removed.
The area where the sample is taken is an open space, without restrictions of passage, traveled by vehicles and in the surroundings there are covered-type constructions. Barcelona City Council, at the beginning of October, closed the perimeter, posted the prohibition of entry and informed people who were carrying out any type of activity in the area.
Furthermore, in collaboration with the Waste Agency of Catalonia and other experts in contaminated soils, Barcelona City Council and the executors of the works (ADIF) are working on an analysis campaign necessary to know the extent of soil contamination and how to proceed to decontamination. These actions must be carried out before the road and railway access works.
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