The possible environmental impact of a semi-controlled dumping site in the north of Croatia had to be evaluated within the scope of a suite of administrative and legal proceedings before a court of law. The contractor operating the landfill was obliged to make periodical analyses of seepage fluids and the underlying ground water, while a more complex environmental audit, voluntary or compulsory was not required by Croatian legislation. Even though the dumping site was periodically evaluated by environmental inspectors, the company at one point maintained that urgent remedial action in  the dumping site was necessary and hired a company to start removing the bales to an undisclosed site at that time. The amount of money that was requested by the remover, and paid by the contractor, was grossly inflated in view of the alleged urgency at a time just before the holiday season. The State Attorneys Office started investigating due to a possible criminal corruption relationship between the contractor and the remover. A court expert (expert witness) was called with the request to evaluate wheter such urgent action was exigent at that time. An inspection of the dump and the baling process by the expert preceded a forensic evaluation  of analytical measurements of a number of chemical parameters including nitrate, nitrite, toxic metals and pathogens performed by a registered laboratory indicated that such urgent remedial action was not essential.<br/>

Forensic chemical and geochemical evaluation of seepage fluids and groundwater in a semi-controlled dumping site in northern Croatia

255th National Meeting (2018)

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