To Pay or Not to Pay

Regardless of who actually causes contamination, it is the owner or perpetual usufructer who usually has to pay for it to be cleaned up. However, interim administrative regulations do provide ways of limiting or avoiding this liability Soil contamination may remain hidden for many years and may migrate with groundwater to adjacent properties. Affected land may change ownership several times, ending up in the hands of purchasers who are blithely unaware of the damage. The scale of the problem in Poland is significant, although relatively under-researched.  By way of comparison, there are an estimated 60,000 contaminated sites in the former German Democratic Republic. Contamination frequently pre-dates environmental protection legislation and occurs particularly in present and former industrial zones.  Other areas for concern are old pits for hazardous industrial waste and underground liquid fuel tanks etc. Unfortunately, clean-up costs can be very high. For insta