DIVA

Project summary

A major specific objective of the project was to rehabilitate illegal landfills, and to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the environment on both sides of the border. The project will contribute mainly to improving the quality of soil, landscape and groundwater. In the illegal landfills toxic waste is often found. The toxins can be released into the soil and groundwater, poisoning them. The problem is particularly visible in karst soils typical for Istria. Inadequate waste disposal is also aesthetically disturbing and negatively impacts on the landscape. The project provides the rehabilitation of selected illegal landfills, which reduced the contamination of soil and groundwater, and negative impacts on the landscape. In this way, the rehabilitated areas were able to use more high-quality space, which are more attractive to visitors and residents, and less exposed to vandalism.
With the revitalization of the illegal landfills and prevention of new sites, the important objective of reducing risks to human health was achieved. Inadequate waste disposal in areas of water resources may lead to contamination of drinking water and become a human health risk. Furthermore, illegal waste dumps in areas often contain a large number of pathogenic organisms, small mammals and insects that are vectors of disease. The project has removed the wastes, and with the remediation of land at selected locations, eliminated the risk. The revitalization of the illegal landfills and prevention of the emergence of new such areas, achieved rehabilitation and the increase in level of biodiversity. It is clear that high concentrations of toxins, which are often found in illegal dumps, can be held responsible for the absence of susceptible plants. Different species have a different tolerance to the toxin threshold. The landfill had significantly reduced the biodiversity of plants in their immediate vicinity. Another problem which often occurs in the wild landfills, are the non-native plant species and animals that can cause significant ecosystem disruption.