Progress in the management of contaminated sites

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Identification

Management of contaminated sites is a tiered process. Remediation (final step) involves much higher financial and time resources than site investigations (first steps). Detailed information on site identification is available, whereas only scarce data are available concerning further steps of the management process, such as remediation activities. Although there are few data available on remediation, it can be assumed that, to date, the main progress is still made during the preliminary management steps focusing on site investigations.

Progress in management of contaminated sites varies considerably from country to country.

A high proportion of remediated sites in the new EEA countries compared to estimated remediation needs could imply a far advanced management process. However, in these countries surveys are also incomplete, which may lead to an underestimation of the problem.

Due to different legal requirements, different degrees of industrialisation and different hydro-geological conditions and approaches, the number of sites treated in each management step in each country cannot be compared directly.

At present, only data concerning the progress of contaminated sites management at a certain point in time are available. This implies that no trends can be derived so far.

A comparison between national data and regional data in each country shows that within one country the management process in certain regions is more advanced or has a higher information level compared to national data.