29 October 2011 1

Priority assessment of heavily polluted areas in Serbia; a practical approach

R. Dijcker1, M. van der Wijk1, B. Blem2, J. Ignjatovic3, A. Popovic3, R. Zanetti1

1 Witteveen+Bos Consulting Engineers, The Netherlands2 NIRAS A/S, Denmark3 Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)

Preparation of Action plans for Remediation of three heavily polluted areas

An EU-funded project managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction

29 October 2011 2

Outline

• Part A: A system for identification and ranking of polluted sites was developed –to prepare remediation action plans for heavily polluted sites in Serbia

• Part B:Relevance for finding practical solutions for key environmental issues, River Basin Management (RBM)

Preparation of risk based and cost-effective remediation plans

29 October 2011 3

Introduction (1)• Currently, Serbia is working on:

• improving environmental protectionand water quality

• protection of water resources• aligning its procedures with the EU

• In Serbia and its riversheds many polluted sites are present

• These site are potential threat to soil, surface water and groundwater resources

• Remediation of these polluted sites is needed

29 October 2011 4

Introduction (2)

• In Serbia national inventories are under development related to;• pollution sources• accidental risk spots • contaminated sites

• Goal: To improve the conditions for remediation of polluted sites in Serbia

• Results of this project provided an approach for the entire process from identification of potentially polluted sites to the preparation of remediation plans

5 september 2008 5

A stepwise approach

29 October 2011 6

Phase 1: Identification of sites

• Identification methods:

long-list of 386 sites

29 October 2011 7

Phase 2: Pre-assessment

• Multi criteria analyses (MCA) was applied for ranking the long-list

29 October 2011 8

Phase 3/4: Re-assessment• Site investigations of 10 pre-selected sites

• Development of additional ranking criteria (MCA)• cost level and effectiveness remediation• possibility of implementing the remediation

• Detailed environmental impact assessment (Top-3)• baseline study• site conceptual model• Tier II risk assessment

• Risk based and cost-effective remediation plans

29 October 2011 9

Part B: Tool for River Basin Management (Dutch case)

• The Dutch ‘Room for the River’ Programme recognised that insight in presence of polluted sites is needed • optimise the measures• estimate total (remedial) costs

• A quick scan was performed:• GIS-database of national inventories• expert-judgement; estimate remedial costs

• A GIS-database of polluted sites showed to be a promising tool for (spatial) planning and cost-effective execution of protection measures

29 October 2011 10

Conclusions

• A practical approach for identification and ranking of polluted sites was developed and successfully applied:• Long-list of 386 potentially polluted sites• Preparation of risk based and cost-effective

remediation plans

• The project showed that an initial assessment, based on limited input data and professional judgement, can provide within a short time frame a reliable assessment and ranking of polluted sites

29 October 2011 11

Conclusions

• The developed identification and ranking system has proven to have potential as a tool to support the decision-making process:• meet environmental goals• prepare environmental protection and

remediation plans and programmes• estimate budgets• optimise spatial planning

29 October 2011 12

Thank you for your attention!!

For further contact:R. Dijcker, Witteveen+Bos: R.Dijcker@witteveenbos.nl

M. van der Wijk, Witteveen+Bos: m.vdwijk@witteveenbos.nl J. Ignjatovic: jignjatovic@rec.org, A. Popovic, REC: apopovic@rec.org