The European Union (EU) Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection identified the reduction of soil contamination as a priority, calling for the collection of policy-relevant soil data at European scale. For this purpose, the indicator Progress in the management of contaminated sites in Europe was developed. The indicator requires appropriate data collection and the establishment of harmonized datasets for Europe. The European Commission Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) collects data on contaminated sites from national institutions belonging to the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet). The report Remediated sites and brownfields – Success stories in Europe is published as an initiative of the Eionet National Reference Centre for Soil which established in 2015 an ad-hoc working group on soil contamination in Europe. The objective was to revise the indicator of the progress in the management of contaminated sites in Europe, and to harmonise and facilitate exchanges of information between the Member Countries. The Remediated sites and brownfields – Success stories in Europe monograph presents a compilation of twenty nine stories of the remediation of contaminated soil from thirteen countries as contribution of the European Commission (JRC and Directorate General for Environment) and Eionet to the International Year of Soil 2015.

Background on Soil Contamination and Remediation in Europe

From the 1980s until today, Europe has developed numerous laws to reduce and remediate the adverse effects of historical soil contamination by industrial activities. Each country has gathered valuable information and published its own work in the national

language, which is normally not accessible and not known by other countries in Europe on how to manage contaminated sites originating from industrial settlements, urbanization and accidents.The 29 cases collected from 13 countries presented in this report have been organised under eight categories: Historical achievements, Brownfields, Landfill remediation, Mining sites, Human health protection, Networking, Research and Education. Historical achievements reports the evolution of five cases of soil remediation and contaminated soil managemet that have developed in different countries along the years.

Remediated sites and brownfields success stories

in Europe

© N

RC Soil Switzerland Federal O

ffice for the Environm

ent FOEN

/Photostock

Soild contamination in a former shooting range by lead. Foreground: former indicator and indicator trench with decontaminated earthen backstop.

Historical achievements

The International Year of Soils (2015) is a good moment to give prominence to some important accomplishments over the past years in European countries. The report presents a wide range of best

practices such as some successful urban redevelopment projects: Park Spoor Noord and De Krook in Flanders, Belgium; decontamina-tion of sites affected by leakage from petrol stations, dry cleaners or chlorinated solvents and asbestos in Belgium; a former factory of asbestos cement products site redeveloped into a residential area in Goor, the Netherlands. Examples of an outstanding remediationstrategy in a residential site, previously a nationalised gaswork industry in Wales and England. Attached to this category one can also find a project raising awareness and collecting information on contaminated sites such as the inventory developed in The Netherlands of sites where urgent work was required due to unacceptable risk for the migration of contaminants to groundwater and the geodatabase of contaminated sites (mainly coal brownfields) in Wallonia, Belgium. Another example is an innovative remediation scheme to achieve reclamation of ecological habitat after a major river pollution event in the United Kingdom.

Brownfields

Projects included in this category describe remediation techniques that tackle typical contaminants found in former industrial sites: hydrocarbon spillages, together with the presence of solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, tributyltins and asbestos. Some projects developed a strategy of rehabilitation and reuse of former gasworks facilities for business and housing, such as Gasometer City in Austria, the thermal desorption remediation in Cannes (France), an ex-situ remediation in Mons (Belgium) and groundwater remediation

in Delémont (Switzerland). Other projects were implement-ed in mixed industrial sites with the aim to reduce soil and groundwater contamination from several sources, such as slagfrom former coke-ovens and an artificial silk factory in Belgium. One project is designed to remove soil contamination and to regenerate the city image of Lisbon (Portugal). Also under brownfields there are cases in which new methods are tested, for instance, innovative physical-chemical soil treatment in Lyon (France). There is also a successful story of the remediation of an accidentally oil spillage in Extremadura, Spain. Moreover two cases were reported where a drinking water resource was affected by industrial pollution: one case of testing a new remediation strategy in an aquifer polluted by industrial waste in Catalonia (Spain) and a case of remediation of Chromium VI in the groundwater of Geneva (Switzerland). The last example of brownfield rehabilitation presents a combined strategy of land reclamation and stakeholders engagement in Porto Marghera, Venice (Italy).

Landfill remediation

Contaminants from landfills such us chlorinated hydrocarbon, ammonium, nitrite, PCEs and TCEs possibly affects drinking water supplies close to urban areas. Consequently, landfill remediation is more than just a political issue; it is also a human health concern. This category presents a collection of landfill remediations to preserve groundwater resources. At Baarburg in the canton of Zug (Switzerland) a municipal solid waste landfill was decontaminated and transformed into forest and agricultural land. Similarly, in Kölliken (Switzerland) the enclosure and remediation of a site for the disposal of waste materials was reconverted into agricultural land. In Austria, the Fischer-Landfill project tested new pre-treating in-situ techniques to ensure a water supply for the city of Vienna.

Mining sites

Mining activities generate large amounts of waste, called tailings. Heavy metal pollutants from legacy mining are a potential source

Retrieving a waste drum with the excavator in Kölliken landfill, Switzerland

© SM

DK/Photostock

© Environm

ental Agency UK, 2008/Photostock

©VEG

A s.c.a r.l./Photostock

The Brownfields section presents 13 cases of land previously used for industrial purposes and now rehabilitated through the use of innovative remediation techniques. Landfill remediation presents three cases of sites where soil technology has been applied for the disposal of waste materials. Mining site provides a story on the recovery and reconstruction plan after an exceptionally heavy rainfall event. The Human health protection section contains two stories on the need of soil remediation to reduce human health risk by poisoning. Networking shows three stories of information tools to gather soil remediation techniques and to promote stakeholders engagement. The Research chapter presents the story of metal deposition in peatland soils as an environmental archive while the Education case highlights a success story of a citizen science program in which volunteers, in partnership with scientists, collected information on contaminated sites to answer real-world questions.

Area VEGA 3 according to the urban development project, Venice, Italy

Illegally tipped tyres in the Hampole quarry, United Kingdom.|

for soil and groundwater contamination. This is the case in the story presented by Serbia in which an effective risk management strategy for floods guided authorities to accomplish mine reclamation and

decommissioning with reduction of groundwater contamination.

Human health protection

Two case studies where the population was exposed to high levels of environmental pollutants are presented. One is about a remediation program to protect human health in Slovenia with the objective of reducing lead concentration in children’s blood. The second one

provides details on actions done to reduce lead concentrations in an old civilian shooting area in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Networking

This category includes projects to raise public awareness and to improve the sharing of knowledge and best practices on remediating soil contamination. Following the example from Denmark, the Slovak government launched in 2010 an information system on contaminated sites to provide easy and free access to national and international institutions for researchers to develop, test and document new approaches to site investigation and remediation. Another successful project under this category was developed in Italy and stands as a good example of innovative approach of contaminated soils management with a high level of stakeholders involvement in the process of risk assessment of soil contamination.

Research

This section introduces cases based on investigations to improve knowledge about polluted sites. This includes the work developed by soil researchers about atmospheric deposition of metals in peatlands in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain.

This study has proved that peatlands are a useful tool for reconstructing atmospheric metal pollution connected to mining and metallurgy activities and for establishing links between soil science and other sciences or disciplines.

Educational

More efforts are needed to promote and undertake awareness-raising activities on soil contamination across Europe. The Enviróza educational initiative in Slovakia, has proven to be a powerful tool and is connected to the principles of citizen science. The main objective was growing public awareness about contaminated sites in schools through data collection activities, emphasized the important social role of learning about the world around us and specifically about remediation of soil contamination.

Participants of an Enviróza team collecting data in the field, Slovakia.

What is the remediation of contaminated sites?“Contaminated site” refers to a well-defined area where the presence of soil contamination has been confirmed and this presents a potential risk to humans, water, ecosystems, or other receptors. Risk management measures (e.g., remediation) may beneeded depending on the severity of the risk of adverse impacts to receptors under the current or planned use of the site (EEA, 2011)1

1 European Environment Agency (EEA), http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/pro-gress-in-management-of-contaminated-sites/progress-in-management-of-contaminated, 2011.

Meža Valley, Slovenia, was declared as a degraded area polluted by high levels of lead.

© SEPA/Photostock

© SEA/Photostock

Collect and share information on

remediation of contaminated sites

Disclose new soil remediation

techniques and management

Raise awareness of contaminated

sites and sustainable land use

© M

atej Blatnik, 2011/Photostock

© U

niversidade de Santiago de Compostela/Photostock

Collecting a peat core in the Tremoal do Pedrido mire (NW Spain). An example of a core sampled with a Waadenar corer is shown at the bottom of the picture.

Flooded open pit mine Tamnava, Serbia.

Joint Research Centre

The European Commission’s in-house science service

Facts & figures about the JRC

Established in 1957Around 3 000 scientific and technical personnel7 scientific institutes1 370 publications in 2014

Picture creditsPage 1; banner from left to right (1-7). (1) GRS Valtech – Salah Benacer, 2011. (2) NRC Soil Switzerland Federal Office for the Environment FOEN and République, 2011. (3, 7) Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Facultade de Bioloxia, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2014. (4, 5) NRC Soil Switzerland Federal Office for the environment FOEN and République, 2005. (6) OVAM, 2004

Contact detailsEuropean CommissionJoint Research Centre

Geraldine BARRY (Head of Unit)External Communication UnitBE-1049 Brussels Belgium

Tel: +32 (2) 297 41 81Fax: +32 (2) 299 63 22

Website: http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/resource-type/documentsContact: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/contact/form

JRC mission

As the Commission’s in-house science service, the JointResearch Centre’s mission is to provide EU policies withindependent, evidence-based scientific and technical support throughout the whole policy cycle.

Working in close cooperation with policy Directorates-General, the JRC addresses key societal challenges while stimulating innovation through developing new methods, tools and standards, and sharing its know-how with the Member States, the scientific community and international partners.

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