CarpeDiem IAS • CarpeDiem IAS • CarpeDiem IAS •

Management of Contaminated Sites Rules, 2025

11 Aug 2025 GS 3 Environment
Management of Contaminated Sites Rules, 2025 Click to view full image

Context: 
The Environment Ministry has made new rules (Environment Protection – Management of Contaminated Sites Rules, 2025) to officially deal with places where soil, water, or both have been polluted by chemicals. 

The rules also address voluntary remediation of sites not previously identified as contaminated. 

Before this, India didn’t have a proper legal process for cleaning up such sites, even though over 100 have already been identified.

What’s a contaminated site?
According to CPCB It’s an area where harmful waste (often from factories) was dumped in the past — before strong environmental laws existed — and has polluted the soil, groundwater, or surface water.
Examples:

  • Old factory sites

  • Abandoned waste dumps or landfills

  • Places where chemicals spilled or were stored badly
    There are 103 such sites identified across the country. Only in seven sites has remedial operation commenced, which involves cleaning the contaminated soil, groundwater, surface water and sediments by adopting appropriate technologies.

Why are these rules needed?
Back in 2010, the government started a programme called the Capacity Building Program for Industrial Pollution Management Project.
It had three big goals:

  1. Make a list of possible contaminated sites 

  2. Write a guide on how to test and clean these sites 

  3. Create a law to make clean-up happen  (This part was missing — until now)

The new rules complete step 3.

How will the clean-up process work now?

Under these rules, the district administration would prepare half-yearly reports on “suspected contaminated sites.” 

  1. Identify – District officials will report possible contaminated sites twice a year.

  2. Preliminary check – State pollution boards or expert bodies have 90 days to do an initial assessment.

  3. Detailed survey – If needed, another 3 months to confirm contamination and measure chemical levels.If the site contains any of the 189 hazardous chemicals listed under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 above safe limits, it is officially declared contaminated.

  4. Public notice – If unsafe exceeds the safe level, the site’s location will be made public, and access will be restricted.

  5. Remediation plan – Experts will design a clean-up strategy.

  6. Find the polluter – State boards have 90 days to identify who caused the mess.

  7. Make them pay – Polluters bear the clean-up cost,Else the Centre and the State would arrange for the costs of clean-up.

  8. Criminal liability – If contamination caused death or injury, charges can be filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (2023).

What’s not covered by these rules?

  • Radioactive waste

  • Mining waste

  • Oil spills in the sea

  • Garbage from solid waste dumps

  • All these have seperate laws 

There’s no fixed deadline for how quickly a contaminated site must be cleaned once it’s identified.

Waste and rules under they governed

1. Radioactive Waste

  • Atomic Energy Act, 1962 – regulates production, use, and disposal of radioactive substances.

  • Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987 – specific guidelines for safe storage, handling, transport, and disposal.

  • Regulatory body: Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

2. Mining Waste

  • Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 – governs mining operations and environmental safeguards.

  • Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 – empowers the government to set waste management norms.

  • Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017 – includes waste dump management and environmental protection.

  • Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 – for prevention of water and air pollution from mining.

3. Oil Spills in the Sea

  • Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 – prevention and containment of oil pollution from ships.

  • Oil Pollution Compensation and Liability Rules, 2015 – compensation mechanism for oil spill damage.

  • Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 – overall marine pollution control.

  • International convention followed: MARPOL 73/78 (Prevention of Marine Pollution).

4. Garbage from Solid Waste Dumps

  • Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 (under Environment Protection Act, 1986) – covers segregation, collection, transport, processing, and disposal of municipal solid waste.

  • Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 (and amendments) – regulation of plastic waste.

  • Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 – for hospital and clinical waste.



← Back to list