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Indicator Assessment
Local soil contamination in 2011 was estimated at 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites in the EEA-39, of which about 45 % have been identified to date. About one third of an estimated total of 342 000 contaminated sites in the EEA-39 have already been identified and about 15 % of these 342 000 sites have been remediated. However, there are substantial differences in the underlying site definitions and interpretations that are used in different countries.
Four management steps are defined for the management and control of local soil contamination, namely site identification (or preliminary studies), preliminary investigations, main site investigations, and implementation of risk reduction measures. Progress with each of these steps provides evidence that countries are identifying potentially contaminated sites, verifying if these sites are actually contaminated and implementing remediation measures where these are required. Some countries have defined targets for the different steps.
Thirty of the 39 countries surveyed maintain comprehensive inventories for contaminated sites: 24 countries have central national data inventories, while six countries, namely Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden, manage their inventories at the regional level. Almost all of the inventories include information on polluting activities, potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites.
Contaminated soil continues to be commonly managed using “traditional” techniques, e.g. excavation and off-site disposal, which accounts for about one third of management practices. In-situ and ex-situ remediation techniques for contaminated soil are applied more or less equally.
Overall, the production sectors contribute more to local soil contamination than the service sectors, while mining activities are important sources of soil contamination in some countries. In the production sector, metal industries are reported as most polluting whereas the textile, leather, wood and paper industries are minor contributors to local soil contamination. Gasoline stations are the most frequently reported sources of contamination for the service sector.
The relative importance of different contaminants is similar for both liquid and solid matrices. The most frequent contaminants are mineral oils and heavy metals. Generally, phenols and cyanides make a negligible overall contribution to total contamination.
On average, 42 % of the total expenditure on the management of contaminated sites comes from public budgets. Annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites are on average about EUR 10.7 per capita. This corresponds to an average of 0.041 % of the national GDP. Around 81 % of the annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites is spent on remediation measures, while only 15 % is spent on site investigations.
It should be noted that all results derive from data provided by 27 (out of 39) countries that returned the questionnaire, and not all countries answered all questions.
The large volume of waste production and the widespread use of chemicals during the past decades have left numerous sites with local soil contamination. The dominant major sources of local soil contamination are inadequate or unauthorised waste disposal, unsafe handling of dangerous substances within industrial or commercial processes, and accidents (EEA, 1998).
The implementation of existing and prospective legislative and regulatory frameworks at EU and national levels should result in fewer inputs of contaminants into soil in the future. However, soil contamination from past activities and newly occurring incidents needs to be dealt with where the risk to health arising from land and groundwater use is unacceptable.
Most European countries have national legislation (or in some cases regional legislation) to deal with local soil contamination, but no legal framework has yet been established at the level of the European Union.
The cornerstone of policy frameworks for local soil contamination is usually a tiered management system. Typically, this tiered system provides for the definition of site-specific targets for remediation and/or safety measures according to the proposed land use, the clarification of liability issues (who pays for remediation, in particular for cases where liable parties are difficult to identify), and the establishment of a national or regional monitoring system to assess progress and the efficiency of the established policy framework.
Key observations
Estimated extent of soil contamination. About one third of the countries surveyed have estimates of the scale of local soil contamination. Based on their data, about 4.2 potentially contaminated sites are on average reported per 1 000 inhabitants and about 5.7 contaminated sites per 10 000 inhabitants. A tentative extrapolation to the whole of Europe results in an estimate for the total number of potentially contaminated sites of 2.5 million, of which about 14 % (340 000 sites) are highly likely to be contaminated, and hence in need of remediation measures.
Progress in the management and control of soil contamination. Based on the current reporting comprising 27 countries, about 1 170 000 potentially contaminated sites have been identified in the responding countries to date, which corresponds to approximately 45 % of the estimate of the number of sites that may exist in the EEA-39. It is important to note that the term potentially contaminated site (PCS) is understood differently among the countries surveyed. In some countries, PCSs are understood to be those sites identified by mapping potentially polluting activities – as is the case in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France – but in other countries more evidence is needed to qualify a site as being potentially contaminated (e.g. Austria, Hungary, Norway).
With regard to contaminated sites, about one third of the estimated total of 342 000 sites in the EEA-39 has already been identified (based on the current reporting) and about 15 % of the same estimated total has been remediated. However, there are substantial differences in the underlying definitions and interpretations that are used in different countries.
Four management steps are defined for the management and control of local soil contamination, namely site identification (or preliminary studies), preliminary investigations, main site investigations, and implementation of risk reduction measures. About one third of the countries surveyed provided data which allow an assessment of their progress with these management steps.
Thirty of the 39 countries surveyed maintain comprehensive inventories for contaminated sites, of which 24 countries have central national data inventories while six countries, namely Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden, manage their inventories at the regional level.With a few exceptions, all inventories include polluting activities, potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites.
“Traditional” remediation techniques still prevail for the treatment of contaminated soil, in particular soil excavation and disposal accounts for on average 30 % of such activities. Furthermore, in-situ and ex-situ measures are applied about equally. With regard to the treatment of contaminated groundwater, ex-situ physical and/or chemical treatments are most commonly reported as being applied (37 %).
Polluting activities and sectors. Generally production rather than service sectors contribute most to local soil contamination (60 % compared to 32 %). Mining activities are also important sources of contamination in some countries (e.g. in Cyprus, Slovakia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). A closer look at the production sector reveals that the textile, leather, wood and paper industries are of minor importance with regard to local soil contamination, whereas metal industries are most frequently reported to be important sources of contamination (13 %). For the service sector, gasoline stations are the most frequently reported sources of contamination (15 %).
With regard to individual countries, the metal industries are reported to be a major sectoral contributor to local soil contamination in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France and Slovakia (each above 20%). Petrol stations are major contributors in the Netherlands (48 %) and in Finland, Hungary, Croatia, Italy and Belgium (Flanders) where they account for more than 20 % of site contamination. Mining sites are dominant soil contamination contributors in Cyprus and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (> 30 %), and Switzerland is the only country where shooting ranges (included in the category mining and others) are reported to be important sources of contamination.
Contaminants. The distribution of the different contaminants is similar in the liquid and the solid matrices. The main contaminant categories are mineral oils and heavy metals. Contamination with mineral oil is especially dominant in Belgium (solid matrix: 50 %) and Lithuania (solid matrix: 60 %), while the focus is on heavy metals for Austria (solid matrix: 60 %) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (solid matrix: 89 %). Phenols and cyanides make a negligible overall contribution to the total contaminant loading. The relative importance of different contaminants as reported in 2011 is similar to that reported in 2006, except for a decrease in the share of sites associated with chlorinated hydrocarbons in groundwater.
Expenditure. In the countries surveyed, on average 42 % of total expenditure is derived from public budgets, ranging from 90% in Estonia down to a minimum of about 25 % in Belgium (Flanders). The 2006 assessment reported a smaller share for public expenditure at 35 %. A possible explanation for this increase in public expenditure is the large increase in France, where public expenditure on local soil contamination rose from 7 % in 2006 to 30 % in 2010.
Annual national expenditures for the management of Contaminated Sites are on average about EUR 11 per capita, ranging from approximately EUR 2 in Serbia to more than EUR 30 in Estonia. This corresponds to an average of 0.04 % of national GDP. Compared to 2006, average national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites decreased (EUR 12 per capita; 0.07 % of national GDP).
On average, 81 % of the annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites is spent on remediation measures, while only 15 % is spent on site investigations. The expenditures for after-care measures are often not reported separately but are included in the expenditure on remediation measures. Exceptions are Austria and Denmark with a share of 7-8 % for after-care measures, and Sweden with a share of 13 % for redevelopment measures.
Costs for site investigations generally fall in the range of EUR 5 000-50 000 (60 % of reported cases). Investigations that cost more than EUR 5 million are only found in Italy and Switzerland. In the Netherlands, “small standard sites” are included in the contaminated sites regime; these account for 10 % of the site investigations, but cost less than EUR 500.
Costs for remediation projects usually fall in the range EUR 50 000-500 000 (40 % of the reported cases). Small remediation projects costing less than EUR 5 000 and extremely large remediation projects costing more than EUR 5 million are rarely reported.
Eighteen European countries have funding mechanisms for “orphan” contaminated sites (sites where no liable party can be identified) at the national level. Belgium and Germany fund such sites at the regional level only. In Slovakia this funding mechanism was adopted in 2006.
Estimated extent of soil contamination
The starting point of a policy framework for local soil contamination is a national or regional estimate of the scale of the problem. Key questions are (1) how many relevant polluting activities (and hence sites with a potential for contamination) exist in the defined region/country, and (2) how many of these sites are in need of remediation. Estimation of the scale of the problem is important to assess the required resources in terms of manpower, finances and time for a defined region. Countries with mature experience in the management of contaminated sites are able to estimate the scale of local contamination more accurately and usually revise such estimates on a regular basis.
The scale of local soil contamination can be estimated in terms of the estimated number of sites that are potentially contaminated (i.e. sites where there is evidence of polluting activities but where detailed information and assessment is lacking) and the estimated total number of contaminated sites that are in need of remediation. The total number of sites may go down as well as up, within individual countries and in total, as better information becomes available and potentially contaminated sites are found not to be contaminated. The expectation is that more reliable estimates of the extent of soil contamination will become available over time.
Key observation (Figure 4)
Estimates of the scale of local soil contamination are available for about one third of the countries surveyed. Results show clearly that the terms “potentially contaminated site” and “contaminated site” are interpreted differently among the European countries.
On average about 4.2 potentially contaminated sites are estimated to exist per 1 000 inhabitants and about 5.7 contaminated sites per 10 000 inhabitants. A tentative extrapolation to the whole of Europe[1] results in an estimated 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites of which about 14 % (340 000 sites) are estimated to be contaminated and in need of remediation measures.
[1] The data collection covers 39 countries: the 33 EEA member countries (including the 28 European Union Member States together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey) and six EEA cooperating countries in the West Balkan: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as Kosovo under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244/99 (Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99). However, only 27 countries returned the questionnaire.
Progress per management step
Note: Progress in the management of contaminated sites between 2006 and 2011, expressed per management step and against established targets where relevant
Inventories for contaminated sites
Note: Overview of whether countries have inventories of contaminated sites, and if so, at which governance level (national centralised (N), regional decentralised (R) and/or local (L)).
Progress in the management and control of soil contamination
Identified sites
The indicator “Progress in management of contaminated sites” is published on a regular basis and aims to show whether or not the European countries are making progress in managing local soil contamination. Progress is identified by assessing whether the identification of contaminated sites and the individual steps in the management process are being taken forward.
The number of identified potentially contaminated sites and/or contaminated sites provides insight on the progress of the management of contaminated sites:
Key observation (Figure 1)
In the responding countries, about 1 170 000 potentially contaminated sites have already been identified, which corresponds to approximately 45 % of the estimated total. The term potentially contaminated site (PCS) is understood differently in the countries surveyed: while in some countries PCSs are interpreted as meaning those for which potentially polluting activities have been mapped – as is the case in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France – in other countries more direct evidence is needed to qualify a site as being potentially contaminated (e.g. Austria, Hungary, Norway, Italy).
With regard to contaminated sites in the reporting countries, about one third of the estimated total of 342 000 sites has already been identified and about 15 % of the estimated total (58 300 sites) remediated. However, very different interpretations of the relevant definitions are applied by individual countries.
Progress per management step
Four management steps are distinguished for the management of local contamination, namely: preliminary study/site identification, preliminary investigation, main site investigation, and implementation of risk reduction measures. Progress with each of these steps provides evidence that countries are identifying potentially contaminated sites, verifying if these sites are actually contaminated and implementing remediation measures where these are required. The progress can be assessed by:
For each management step, available data were compared either to the results of previous data collection exercises (cf. achievements compared to the last data observation period) or to the estimated total (cf. absolute achievements within the process of the current reporting period).
Key observation (Figure 5)
About one third of the countries surveyed provided data to allow an assessment of their progress within the four management steps for local soil contamination (i.e. preliminary study/site identification, preliminary investigation, main site investigation and implementation of risk reduction measures).
The first management step refers to the mapping of sites where potentially polluting activities have taken place or are still in operation. Results show that 12 countries have made significant progress in the mapping of their polluting activities and potentially contaminated sites. Seventeen countries have defined the estimated total number of sites in need of this investigation step, of which nine[1] countries have completed this management step by more than 80 %.
With regard to the “preliminary investigations” management step, far less data are available. Only six countries reported significant progress in this management step and eight countries are able to measure their progress within this management step in relation to a defined target.
Main site investigations are carried out to clarify whether or not a site needs to be remediated and to inform subsequent remediation choices and designs. About half of the surveyed countries were able to provide data for this category. However, assessments were not always possible. Results show that 16 countries significantly increased their efforts in carrying out main site investigations and that 12 countries measure their efforts according to a defined target.
The implementation of remediation measures was reported to have increased in 10 countries (since the last data collection exercise) and about one third of the surveyed countries measure their efforts in this category according to a defined quantitative target.
[1] Austria, Cyprus, Finland, France, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Switzerland
Inventories
Inventories of polluting activities and contaminated sites are indispensable for the monitoring of local soil contamination. However, their nature and level of detail can take many forms, e.g. with regard to their geographical coverage. In order to carry out a European data collection exercise, it is important to identify the type of information most commonly documented in such inventories as a guide to data availability.
The answers to this sub-question provide insight to the scale at which inventories are kept, and if the three key categories (i) polluting activities, (ii) potentially contaminated sites, and (iii) contaminated sites are included in these inventories.Key observation (Figure 6)
Thirty of the 39 countries surveyed maintain comprehensive inventories for contaminated sites: 24 countries have central national data inventories while six countries, namely Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden, manage their inventories at the regional level.
Since the last data request in 2006, three countries amended their existing inventories. In Switzerland, a central national inventory is now available in addition to the previously existing regional inventories, while Lithuania and Hungary have complemented their national inventories with regional inventories.
With a few exceptions, all inventories include polluting activities, potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites. Nevertheless, Cyprus does not include contaminated sites; the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia only polluting activities; while Spain does not include potentially contaminated sites. In Greece, the establishment of a data inventory at regional level was in progress in 2006 – but no further information about its status was provided for this data collection.
Remediation techniques
Up to the present, the most common remediation technique has been the excavation of contaminated soil and its disposal as landfill (sometimes referred to as ‘dig and dump’). However, increasing regulatory control of landfill operations and associated rising costs, combined with the development of improved ex-situ and in-situ remediation techniques, is altering the pattern of remediation practices.
This specific policy question aims to find out which techniques currently prevail, and if a trend towards innovative techniques (in comparison with results from the previous data collection) can be observed.
As noted in 2006, “traditional” remediation techniques are most commonly used for the treatment of contaminated soil, in particular the technique of soil excavation and disposal is applied in about 30 % of the relevant sites. In-situ and ex-situ measures are applied with similar frequencies.
Ex-situ physical and/or chemical treatments are reported to be the most common (37 %) techniques used in the treatment of contaminated groundwater.
Polluting activities and sectors
Key sources (activities) of soil contamination
Local soil contamination can be derived from various activities. This specific policy question aims at finding out which types of sources have contributed most to local soil contamination.
Key observation (Figure 2)
Waste disposal and treatment, together with industrial and commercial activities, have caused almost two thirds of the local contamination that has to be to be dealt with now and in the future.
Nuclear operations contribute only 0.1 % to the reported contamination levels, but there are gaps in the data for this sector, e.g. in France and the United Kingdom.
In general, the distribution of local sources of contamination has not changed since 2006. The data are difficult to compare in detail as the data sample has changed – some countries participating in 2006 did not answer this question in 2011 and vice versa.
Other observations and details (Figure 8)
All the soil contamination in Croatia is reported to have been caused by waste disposal and treatment. However, this reflects the fact that the response to the questionnaire from Croatia only covered 13 “hot-spots” (which are old landfills / waste disposal sites).
In Switzerland, 41% of the soil contamination has been caused by both municipal and industrial waste disposal, where the ratio between “municipal waste disposal” and “industrial waste disposal” is unknown.
Both for Hungary (39%) and Ireland (55%), it is reported that contamination is mainly the result of oil spills from transport operations.
It is reported that 30% of the contamination in Lithuania has been caused by military operations, mainly from oil spills and waste disposal on former military sites.
It is reported that 32% of the contamination in Belgium (Flanders) has been caused by oil handling and refining within industrial and commercial activities.
Breakdown of sectors responsible for soil contamination
This specific policy question aims to find out which are the main industrial or commercial sectors responsible for local soil contamination.
Key observation (Figure 9)
On average the production sector has contributed more local soil contamination (60 % of sites) than has the service sector (32 % of sites). To a lesser extent, mining activities are also important contributors to soil contamination (i.e. in Cyprus, Slovakia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).
It is evident that individual countries have their own specific industrial and commercial focuses, while at the European scale there is no dominant sub-sector responsible for local soil contamination. Within the production sector, the textile, leather, wood and paper industries are of minor importance for local soil contamination, whereas the metal industries are most frequently reported to be important sources of local soil contamination (13 % of sites). Petrol stations are the most frequently reported source of local soil contamination within the service sector (15 % of sites).
Country specifics: The metal industries are reported to be a major sector source of local soil contamination in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France and Slovakia (each above 20 %). Petrol stations are of major importance in the Netherlands (48 %) and also in Finland, Hungary, Croatia, Italy and Belgium (Flanders), where they account for more than 20 % of local soil contamination. Mining sites are dominant sources of contamination in Cyprus and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (> 30 %). Only in Switzerland are shooting ranges (included in the category mining and others) explicitly reported to be important sources of local soil contamination. In Finland, shooting ranges are subsumed under the category “others” where they represent one third of the local sources of contamination.
Contaminants
Different contaminants have different effects on human health and the environment, depending on their properties, for example: their potential for dispersion, their solubility in water or fat, their bio-availability, carcinogenicity, etc. This specific policy question is of key importance for research and development, the remediation market and related industries; for example, if a specific compound is known to be a major soil contaminant it may be worthwhile to develop new detection methods (e.g. in-situ detection) and more efficient remediation techniques.
Key observation (Figure 10)
The distribution of the different contaminants is similar in the liquid and the solid matrix. The main contaminant categories are mineral oils and heavy metals. Contamination with mineral oil is especially dominant in Belgium (solid matrix: 50 %) and Lithuania (solid matrix: 60 %), while heavy metals are the dominant contaminants in Austria (solid matrix: 60 %) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (solid matrix: 89 %).
The data suggests that phenols and cyanides make a negligible contribution to the total contaminant loading. Compared to the data collection exercise of 2006, the shares of the various pollutants have hardly changed, the only substantial change being a decrease in the contribution of chlorinated hydrocarbons to groundwater contamination.
Funding mechanisms for orphan sites
Note: Overview of whether countries have funding mechanisms for orphan sites, and if so, at which governance level (national (N), regional (R) or no data).
Expenditure
Annual total expenditure
This specific policy question aims to find out how much money on average is spent on the remediation of local soil contamination by the public and private sectors and how this relates to population size and available economic resources, as indicated by GDP.
The data provide answers to the relative costs of the key management steps and the related investments by the public and the private sectors.
Furthermore, the relation of annual remediation expenditures to the population or the national GDP provide:
Key observation (Figures 11 and 3)
In the reporting countries, on average 42% of total expenditure is derived from public budgets, ranging from 90 % in Estonia down to about 25% in Belgium (Flanders). In comparison to 2006 the public share of expenditure rose by about 35 %, which can be explained by significant changes in large countries; e.g. the public share in France rose from about 7 % in 2006 to 30 % in 2010.
Annual national expenditure spent on the management of contaminated sites is on average about EUR 10 per capita, with a range of approximately EUR 2 in Serbia to more than EUR 30 in Estonia. The average expenditure for all countries is EUR 0.4 per million Euros of national GDP. These data indicate a decrease compared to the 2006 average national expenditure on the management of contaminated sites (EUR 12 per capita; EUR 0.7 per million Euros of national GDP), with wider ranges than in the last data collection exercise.
Remarks (Figure 3)
Annual expenditure for investigation and remediation
This specific policy question aims at finding out how the total money spent on the management of local soil contamination is split across the different management steps. In addition, it allows for an assessment of the average distribution of site investigation and remediation “project sizes”.