After the 1970s, harmful substances that had derived from industrial activities and had been released into the environment in the past were found to be the main sources of soil and groundwater contamination. Many environmental damages such as pollution caused by heavy metals and volatile organic compounds have been reported. Against this situation, the Ministry of Environment (Environment Agency until 2001) established the "Environmental Quality Standards" for soil in 1991, "Survey and Countermeasure Guidelines for Soil and Groundwater Contamination" in 1999. Finally, "Contaminated Soil Countermeasure Law" was formed on May 29, 2002, and enforced on February 15, 2003.
In this low, several philosophies had changed from conventional thinking in the former guideline. For example, responsibilities of pollutant and land holder become clear, contaminated lands can be utilized under control and so on.
In this paper, soil remediation technologies were reviewed in addition to the explanation of the new law.