TOXICOLOGICAL DATABASE OF SOIL (BDT)
CONTACT INFORMATION
contact organisation: Regional Administration Authority and National Research Council
contact city: Bari
contact country: Italy
contact telephone: +39 080 5820 532
contact fax: +39 080 5313 365
contact email: uricchio@area.ba.cnr.it
contact website: http://bdt.regione.puglia.it
DESCRIPTION OF THE BEST PRACTISE CASE
sector: Agencies
Is the project a joint venture? Yes
With which organisations: Environment Management Authority of Apulia Region; Water Research Institute of the Italian National Research Council; University of Bari; University of Lecce; Regional Environmental Protection Agency of Apulia.
What key words would you use to describe this project? Soil pollution, Pollution sources, Environmental Database Management System, Information sharing
What can the participants of 3QC learn from this best practice case? BDT deals with the definition of a tool, based on IT (information technology) capable to create and diffuse
knowledge, continuously updated, concerning environmental characteristics, the state of human pressure and the best practices both to reduce pollution and to reclaim contaminated
sites.
THE AIMS OF THE PROJECT
What are the aims of the project? The improvement and diffusion of knowledge on many toxicological substances used in agriculture or deriving from industrial activities; the definition of
a toxicological database to support environmental safety interventions; the training of public
officials on database management.
Have these aims been quantified? Yes
If so, provide a brief explanation: Many aims have been quantified to monitor the effectiveness of the project. Examples:
* Number of the municipalities that profit of the BDT project services.
* Number of doctors that use the BDT database to retrieve information concerning the cures
in case of intoxication due to chemical substances.
Are the aims recorded? Yes
Where are the aims recorded? The project's aims have been recorded in a report presented
to the Italian Parliament.
THE IMPLEMENTATION
What steps were taken to achieve the aim? The project's aims were achieved in two distinct
phases, each one characterized by many sub-steps. First part dealt with the definition of toxicological sheets describing the physical, chemical characteristics of the main pollutants, the
definition of a pollution risk map, the implementation of an Information System with all the
graphical and alphanumeric data, the improvement of the analysis on the soil, the definition
of the contaminated sites restoration techniques. In the second part three actions have been
performed: validation of Information System's performances according to end users' judgement, integration of the data contained in the Information System, transfer of the data to end
users and community.
Describe if and how the project was structurally embedded into the business operations: The
BDT project is the outcome of joint venture among different institutions. The initiative was
taken by the Regional Environmental Authority that decided to avail of the contribution of
many research institutes with many skills on the environmental issues and on the related
human health problems. The project has been carried out in an integrated manner that ensure collaboration. Therefore, all the involved institutions worked on the BDT project implementation according to their own specific experiences and scientific knowledge. The Water
Research Institute of the Italian National Research Council was selected as responsible of
the project and as responsible of the costs.
Specify (to benefit the learning effect) the primary obstacles during the implementation of the
project. How were these overcome? No obstacles emerged during the implementation phase.
Were there positive or negative side effects? The main positive side-effects concern the wide
diffusion of geographical information to the public through the use of web technologies. In
fact, before the projects implementation, the consultation of cartographic and thematic maps
was complex and uneasy. Instead, after the projects implementation, every user can download maps and use them to elaborate information for specific scopes. Moreover, the BDT projects implementation contributes to the integration of different projects results concerning
other environmental topics at regional scale, in an environmental integrated assessment perspective.
THE RESULT
Has an evaluation by citizens (or companies) been conducted? Yes
If so, explain the results of the evaluations: As stated before, the results of BDT project are
available on the web and every citizen can log on to the system and he/she can access to all
the information contained. Thus, in our perspective, the evaluation of the project is strictly
related to the constant access to BDT web site by both expert and non-expert people.
THE INNOVATION AND TRANSFERABILITY OF THE PROJECT
Is the project innovative? Explain: The BDT project is characterized by different innovative
elements: The wide involvement of actors operating in different fields with the aim to create a
collaborative and synergic environment to solve problems at regional scale; The new organizational structure strongly web-based that facilitates the information exchange and the integration among the different operative units geographically dispersed (All the documents have
been elaborated by different authors and they are stored in virtual “showcases” to be available for all the participants); The use of the web further on facilitates the result’s diffusion and
their accessibility to the public; The promotion of active partnerships involving different organizational units.
Is the project transferable to others? Yes
If so, which elements? The project’s transferability mainly regards the methodology for nonpoint sources of pollution control, the development of environmental monitoring structures
and the emphasis on the environmental planning to reduce the pollution risks.
Did other organisations adapt the whole project or elements of it? Yes. A partnership with
Hungarian Government has been established. The partnership is built on the BDT project’s
experiences transfer with particular emphasis on:
The improvement of control system for pesticides and, in general, for the environmental
quality;
The focus on the sustainability of agricultural practices (non-point sources of pollution);
The improvement of the monitoring system to support the environmental resources planning.
Are there special factors that contributed to the success of the project? The main elements
contributing to the success of the project are the integration and the coordination. In fact, the
integration is a fundamental element to create synergies among different initiatives and projects on environmental safety, valuing the strength points and reducing the weakness. The
coordination plays an important roles in complex studies, highly multidisciplinary, to lead all
the efforts towards a common goal.
Why must this best practice case be included in the conference? The implementation of the
BDT project induced an increase of the available knowledge on the local environment and on
many phenomenon. This knowledge sharing can have a positive effect on decision-process
at different levels: local decision-makers, to improve the decision-making processes; professionals, to reduce the risk of subjectivity in environmental analysis. Finally, the knowledge
can be accessed by the citizens making them more informed on the environmental safety
issues.