Article 2 of the law on the prevention and control of soil pollution (hereinafter referred to as the soil law) stipulates that "soil pollution as mentioned in this Law refers to the phenomenon that a substance enters the land surface soil due to human factors, causing changes in soil chemical, physical, biological and other characteristics, affecting soil functions and effective utilization, endangering public health or damaging the ecological environment". Since the use of soil by human beings is not as direct as that of water, gas and solid, it can be considered that there are direct and indirect pollution ways for "certain substances to enter the" soil ".

There are many substances that directly enter the soil, but according to the definition, there are not many that can reach "pollution", such as agricultural fertilization and application, information, network, lightning protection, grounding and other construction projects in the fields of construction, communication, electric power, transportation, water conservancy and so on.

It is the main form of human use of soil that the carrier materials such as solid and water enter the soil indirectly. Because all kinds of solid materials are on the ground, they must contact with the soil, and all kinds of water quality must also invade the soil. Because of this, solid wastes, water pollutants, air pollutants, etc. fall on the surface of the soil except for the gaseous pollutants that fall into the water, organisms, buildings and stabilize in the atmosphere.

Among them, reaching the level of "endangering public health or damaging the ecological environment" has become an important way of soil pollution. Article 19 of the soil law generally stipulates that "units and individuals that produce, use, store, transport, recycle, dispose of and discharge toxic and harmful substances shall take effective measures to prevent leakage, loss and dispersion of toxic and harmful substances and avoid soil pollution". There are three important bases: Article 12 stipulates that soil pollution risk control standards shall be formulated according to soil pollution status, public health risk, ecological risk and scientific and technological level, and according to land use, * or local governments; According to the provisions of Article 20, according to the harm and impact on public health and ecological environment, * the ecological environment department shall screen and assess the toxic and harmful substances in the soil, publish the list of key controlled toxic and harmful substances in the soil, and update it timely; According to the provisions of Article 21, according to the discharge of toxic and harmful substances, the competent department of ecological environment at or above the municipal level divided into districts shall formulate the list of key supervision units of soil pollution in their respective administrative areas, make it public to the public and update it in a timely manner.

Solid waste is the focus of indirect soil pollution, and soil may also become hazardous waste. For example, Article 41 of the soil law stipulates that "if the transferred contaminated soil is hazardous waste, the remediation construction unit shall dispose it according to the requirements of laws, regulations and relevant standards". Therefore, Article 31 stipulates: * strengthen the protection of unpolluted soil; Unused land shall be protected from pollution and damage. Punishment is tit for tat:

First, Article 89 stipulates that "those who use industrial solid waste, domestic garbage or contaminated soil with excessive content of heavy metals or other toxic and harmful substances for land reclamation shall be ordered by the competent department of ecological environment to make corrections and be fined not less than 100000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan. Second, Article 87 stipulates that "those who discharge sewage and sludge with excessive contents of heavy metals or other toxic and harmful substances into agricultural land, as well as sediment, tailings and slag that may cause soil pollution" (see "sewage" below), shall be ordered by the competent department of ecological environment to make corrections and be fined not less than 100000 yuan but not more than 500000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan shall be imposed. For "sludge", Article 88 of the law on the prevention and control of water pollution and Article 108 of the law on the prevention and control of solid waste pollution provide penalties for substandard treatment and stacking. Third, Article 88 stipulates that "if the producers, sellers and users of agricultural inputs fail to timely recover the packaging wastes or agricultural films of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers in accordance with the provisions, or fail to timely recover the packaging wastes of pesticides in accordance with the provisions and submit them to specialized institutions or organizations for harmless treatment", the competent agricultural and rural departments shall order them to make corrections and impose a fine of not less than 10000 yuan but not more than 100000 yuan; If the user of agricultural inputs is an individual, he may be fined not less than 200 yuan but not more than 2000 yuan.

Sewage can also cause soil pollution. As stipulated in Article 87 above.

Will air pollutants cause soil pollution? There are no provisions in the soil law. Perhaps it is because of natural sedimentation or precipitation to the soil surface, it is difficult to trace the source of supervision, and it is more difficult to identify the polluter. This requires strict supervision and punishment at the front end. For example, lead in air pollutants causes soil pollution in the form of sedimentation.

There are many problems in soil pollution, such as lack of understanding, hidden hazards, difficult monitoring, high risk, high treatment cost and long period, so the front-end treatment is particularly important. In recent years, China has only paid attention to the soil pollution left by the long-term neglect of the front end. Compared with Article 122 of the law on the prevention and control of solid waste pollution, which stipulates that "the solid waste found in the process of law enforcement that cannot be identified as the responsible person or that cannot be returned shall be handled by the local people's government at or above the county level in the place where it is located", the soil law has significantly strengthened.

First, Article 70 stipulates that "people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall deal with emergencies involving soil pollution". People's governments at all levels shall strengthen the prevention and control of soil pollution and arrange necessary funds for the following matters. Second, according to Article 71, * increase the investment in soil pollution prevention and control funds and establish a soil pollution prevention and control fund system. A special fund for soil pollution prevention and control and a provincial-level soil pollution prevention and control fund shall be established, mainly for the prevention and control of soil pollution on agricultural land, the control and repair of soil pollution risks that cannot be identified by the person responsible for soil pollution or the land use right owner, and other matters specified by the government. If the land use right holder actually undertakes the control and repair of soil pollution risk on the contaminated land parcel generated before the implementation of this Law and which cannot be identified by the person responsible for soil pollution, he may apply for the soil pollution prevention and control fund to be used for the control and repair of soil pollution risk.

As far as the amount of punishment is concerned, it is not enough to deal with soil pollution. Consistent with other pollution prevention and control laws, article 96 stipulates that anyone who pollutes the soil and causes personal or property damage to others shall bear tort liability according to law; If the person responsible for soil pollution cannot be identified, and the land use right holder fails to perform the obligations of soil pollution risk control and repair in accordance with the provisions of this law, thus causing personal or property damage to others, he shall bear tort liability according to law. Article 97 further stipulates that if soil pollution damages the interests of the people and the public, the relevant organs and organizations may bring a lawsuit to the people's court in accordance with the provisions of the environmental protection law, the civil procedure law, the administrative procedure law and other laws. Article 98 stipulates that if an act constitutes a violation of the administration of public security, the public security organ shall impose a penalty on the administration of public security according to law; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

As an important carrier of various substances, soil is inextricably linked with the air, water and solid waste prevention and control, and has to become a master of all kinds of pollutants. Once the front-end solid waste, water and air pollution are not well defended, the law enforcement is not strict, and there are loopholes, it is bound to cause the back-end soil risk control and repair.

Soil pollution control, in essence, is a comprehensive response to other pollution control effects in the previous stage, and represents the understanding of the front-end regulators on the pollution control system. As for solid wastes, water pollutants and air pollutants that may cause soil pollution, although they are small cases of supervision at the front end, they often have the trouble of being handed over to the public security organs and even being investigated for criminal punishment. They can not be compared with ordinary fines, but are the main source of pollution at the rear end.

Author unit: Ecological Environment Bureau of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province