The project area occupies 1559 ha agricultural and other lands on the village Chelopechene (now residential district of Sofia), which, according to the investigations carried out in 1993, have to be considered highly polluted by Arsenic, Cadmium and Lead, also by some POPs like PAHs and organochlorinated pesticides. The sources of the pollution are: (1) The ferrous smelter Kremikovtzi, which is neighbouring to the lands of Chelopechene; (2) Old landfills and waste-water deposition area; (3) A ground for deposition of solid waste materials from Sofia municipality (approximately 200000 tons) and others. The polluted soils cause contamination of surface and underground waters and impact health status of the population in this region.
Agriculture is an important business in the region but until now, the local farmers and domestic gardens owners do not use sustainable farming practices which can eliminate and/or mitigate the unfavourable effects of soil pollution on the quality of local agricultural production. Partly this is because the local individual producers are not informed on the pollution status of their soils, surface and ground waters and sustainable farming practices. The project target groups are: local farmers, local domestic gardens owners, members of local ecological association ?Eco- Chelopechene?, children aged 10-14 years from the local school, and others.
The aim of the project is developing and implementation in Chelopechene region a management system containing sustainable farming practices which can reduce the risk of agricultural use of polluted soils in the locality and improve their quality. The following steps will be carried out:
1. Inventory, thorough diagnosis and detailed risk assessment of soils/sites contamination in the lands and domestic gardens in Chelopechene through review and summarizing the existing information, creating data base and adding new analytical data about soil/water pollution; preparation of a report titled: ?Soil contamination in lands of Chelopechene and risk assessment? and thematic maps on soil pollution (scale = 1:10 000) in order the pollution status of the soil/water to be easy available for the local land owners and land users.
2. Development of a system for sustainable management and agricultural use of the local polluted soils/sites and an action plan for transition to sustainable farming practices, including:
- choice of tolerable agricultural plants to the local soil pollution;
- selection of optimal crop rotation, appropriate tillage, pest control, manure and fertilizer implementation;
- compilation of technologies for growing agricultural plants according the requirements of sustainable agricultural practices;
- economic considerations and marketing possibilities;
3. Development of integrated technology for remediation 1 ha of strongly polluted soils/sites in the Chelopechene region through using appropriate plants and CFS-SOLVO for stabilization the soil pollutants.
In the same time an information campaign for implementation of a sustainable management and agricultural producing systems will be carried out in the region which can guarantee producing of safety crop and vegetable production from polluted lands and domestic gardens.
It is estimated, that the outputs of the project will be used from all the inhabitants of the village (approx. 1700). As a result all the agricultural lands of Chelopechene (500 ha) will be included in a safety agricultural producing system, and part of strongly polluted soils/sites (p.e.13 ha) will be included for phytoremediation. The outputs obtained will be used also from the inhabitants of neighboring villages with soil pollution problems similar to that of Chelopechene.
Duration of the project: 30 months
Budget: total = 71690 BGL 100,0 %, Contribution of SGP: 32310 BGN 45%