Former Šumatac Poultry Farm
Above remediation valueMedia tested
Summary
Šumatac is an abandoned industrial site near Velika Kladuša, a former Agrokomerc chicken farm of about 27,600 m². The buildings are gone, but the remains of large steel-frame halls are visible and the ground is derelict and littered with construction waste. Loose fragments of glass wool and asbestos-containing material were seen on the soil surface, posing a direct environmental and health risk. The site lies about 50 metres from a watercourse, within a flood-prone area, and about 200 metres from a drinking-water source. Soil and water were tested. In one part of the surface soil, zinc exceeded the level indicating that cleanup is needed; cadmium and nickel were above the level at which land is no longer considered clean throughout the soil, and legacy agricultural pesticides were found in the surface layer. The water sample met all the prescribed limits.
Assessment findings
Findings of concern
- Loose fragments of glass wool and asbestos-containing material are visible on the soil surface across the site, a direct environmental and health risk to anyone entering it.
- In one part of the surface soil, zinc was above the level indicating that cleanup is needed — the most serious of the measured findings.
- Cadmium and nickel were above the level at which land is no longer considered clean throughout the tested soil, and cobalt, copper and zinc in individual samples.
- Legacy agricultural pesticides — the DDT group and other long-banned pesticides — were found in the surface soil above the level at which land is no longer considered clean, but below the level requiring cleanup.
Positive findings
- The surface-water sample met all the applicable limits.
- Petroleum-related and tar-and-combustion pollutants, mercury, arsenic, lead and chromium were within limits across all the tested soil.
- Several other pesticides tested — including the lindane group, chlordane and endosulfan — were within limits.
- Apart from zinc, no measured metal or pesticide reached the level requiring cleanup.
Photo gallery
The project results have been submitted to the competent institutions as a basis for improving regulation and for strategic planning of further activities.
Legal basis
- Decision on the characterization of surface and groundwater, reference conditions and parameters for water status assessment and water monitoring (Official Gazette of FBiH No. 01/14)
- Rulebook on limit and remediation values of polluting, harmful and hazardous substances in soil (Official Gazette of RS No. 82/21)
Due to the absence of reference values for soil and sediment in the Federation of BiH, the Republika Srpska rulebook is applied as a reference framework to ensure methodological consistency between the entities.
