A procedure for identifying contaminated sites in developing countries

The contaminated sites problem has been addressed by European countries for more than a decade, in order to establish strategies and methodologies to diminish the risk to the population, to the environment, and to drinking water sources that are associated with them. However, in most South American countries, the subject of contaminated sites is a new environmental issue that authorities have just started to deal with. The case of Chile presents currently an interested environmentalnormative body that has started to prepare the countries legal context as well as to foster the formation of research and investigation groups that will deal with the exploration, investigation and management of contaminated sites at regional as well as national levels. New regulations have been just started to form the new legal framework in which the management activities for contaminated sites will take place. There is thus the need of a comprehensive technical and legal support in this stage.