Homeowners in a housing development under construction in Shanghai have been left disappointed after discovering the estate is next to a plot of “toxic land” containing soil and groundwater pollution beyond acceptable levels, reports Caixin.
Only a road separates the Shanghai Pufa Hongwan Community housing development and the plot of toxic land, which was the former site of the Pudong electroplating factory, demolished in 2016, the report notes. Phase II of the housing development, located in the Pudong district, is scheduled to be completed by end-2024.
The homeowners obtained a risk assessment report issued by the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, which found 16 pollutants in the plot’s soil that exceed acceptable levels. They include aromatic hydrocarbons, which have chemical structures similar to benzene, and heavy metals, both of which are known to be harmful to human health. The homeowners say the real estate developer failed to inform them of this information, Caixin notes.
In a follow-up article, Caixin reported that the real estate developer promised to undertake and complete a soil remediation project for the plot of land by 2025. However, Daily Economic News quoted the lawyer representing the homeowners as saying that when the remediation begins, the soil will be excavated, and the environmental impact assessment report shows a risk of the pollution spreading when this happens.
“Toxic land”, or brownfield sites, refer to abandoned land that has been used for industrial purposes. Such land may present risks to human health and ecology due to soil and groundwater pollution from previous production, storage or use of toxic and hazardous substances.
Caixin also published a comprehensive analysis of toxic land in China in recent years, showing that since the 1990s, many cities have converted industrial land for public and residential use. It notes that China’s environmental protection work has been lagging behind due to reasons including the relative immaturity of land and soil restoration technology, and the complexities of determining responsibility for overseeing such work. These have led to the development of toxic land without effective governance.
As early as 2012, Caijing Magazine warned that a large number of plots of toxic land in China had been and were being developed for residential use. Heavy metals, electronic waste, petrochemical pollutants and persistent organic pollutants are the four major categories of pollutants found on toxic land. Caijing reported that very few of them were treated before development, and acute poisoning incidents caused by toxic land have occurred frequently.
Images from the Daily Economic News report show that a primary school has been built next to the Pufa Hongwan development just across from the plot of toxic land. But so far, over 100 homeowners have requested to back out of their purchases, and for the developer to compensate for their losses.
Read Dialogue Earth’s previous report on housing built on contaminated sites in China.