Status of Local Soil

Contamination in

Europe:

current situation

and outlook

Ana PAYA PEREZ European Commission, Joint Research Centre

(JRC)

5th Meeting of the EU Expert Group on Soil Protection

Brussels 24th October 2017

Disclaimer: Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this presentation may be put, nor for any errors which may appear despite careful preparation and checking. The presentation does not necessarily reflect the view of the position of the European Union.

DRAFT

1. Objectives Status Report

(in preparation)

To serve as the basis for the revision of the Indicator “Progress in the management of contaminated sites in Europe”, summarizing the actual status of LOCAL soil contamination and highlighting the differences between countries.

• How is Europe dealing with soil contamination? Are the countries addressing soil contamination in the same way?

• Which progresses have been achieved regarding soil contamination management?

1. EIONET Questionnaires

Caution must be taken:

- changes in the concepts of Site Status since the first data compilation,

- changes in considered polluting activities

- different data available for each country between years

1. EIONET Questionnaire 2016

Caution is needed in

interpreting the results:

- 4 EU countries did not

reply (and 7 non EU)

- Not all countries

responded to every

question.

- Belgium, Italy and UK

keep regional

management systems

and it has been not

possible to collect data

for all their regions.

Lithuania: concentration in the target area before the start of planned activities

Belgium: Values above ambient concentrations of a pollutant in the soil

Background concentration

Belgium: applies to all activities, economic or not, except housing

Slovakia: abandoned industrial sites, where contamination of groundwater and soil is usually present.

Brownfields

Latvia: utilisation of soil, subterranean depths, water, air, installations or buildings and other stationary facilities that may result in environmental pollution or risk of accidents

Polluting activities

Slovakia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Serbia: human activities as the trigger

Germany: any impairment of soil functions

Soil pollution

Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland: where confirmed presence of hazardous and substances caused by human activity in concentrations that may cause a significant risk to human health and the environment

Soil contamination

2. Differences in concepts and definitions

concentration of substances in the soil under natural conditions or conditions with very little human influence.

as a property, which expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance.

included those installations covered by the IPPC or the Seveso II Directives.

the presence of a chemical or substance that has adverse effects.

Soil contamination is not necessarily causing harm

3. Revision of the indicator “Progress in the management of contaminated sites”

LSI003: Sites where polluting activities took place:

Site Status 1 - Sites where polluting activities took place

N EU countries replying

Reported number of sites

S.S. 1 estimated 12 1 380 000

S. S. 1 registered 20 582 000

Site Status 2 - Sites in need of investigation or under investigation where there is a clear suspicion of contamination

S.S. 2a - Sites in need of investigation 19 180 000

S. S. 2b - Sites under investigation 17 79 000

Site Status 3 - Sites that have been investigated, but no remediation needed

S. S. 3 - Investigated sites but no remediation needed

20 76 000

Site Status 4 - Sites that need or might need remediation or risk-reduction measures (RRM)

S. S. 4a - Sites where remediation is needed 19 45 000

S. S. 4b - Sites where remediation might be needed

13 79 000

Site Status 5 - Sites under/with on-going remediation or RRMs

S. S. 5 - Sites under remediation 21 14 000

Site Status 6 - Site remediation or RRMs completed or sites under after-care measures

S. S. 6 - Remediated sites (RS) 21 63 000

3. Extent of local soil contamination in Europe

5. Inventories

No legal obligation in EU

Many countries (72%) have developed their inventories of contaminated sites based on their own consideration

6. Historical contamination and orphan sites

62% of countries have national, regional or private programs to deal with historical contamination and to assure funds availability to remediate orphan sites.

Networking and outreach

Monograph “European achievements in soil remediation and brownfield redevelopment”

contributions from the EIONET NRC Soil is in press,

publication October 2017

Countries participating

BELGIUM

FINLAND

FRANCE

HUNGARY

ITALY

POLAND

SPAIN

UNITED KINGDOM

Publication "European Achievements in Soil Remediation and Brownfield

Redevelopment"

11

Themes covered N. Articles

•Historical Achievements 3

•Brownfields 7

•Landfill remediation 2

•Mining sites 1

•Networking 1

•Research 3

Total 17

Networking

RemTech Europe 2017 Conference on Remediation

Technologies Topics: “Case studies, criteria for success of remediation in the

context of circular economy”

Workshop on sustainable remediation of contaminated sites: what's

new in Europe?

http://www.remtechexpo.com/en/mission/conferenceeng

www.remtechexpo.com

13

REMTECH EXPO

THE NUMBERS

- 6.000 expert participants

- 100 conferences in parallel sessions

- 150 members of Scientific Committees (RemTech, Europe, Coast,

Esonda, Inertia and Sismo)

- 150 sponsors

- 100 media partner

- 270 expositors

- 5 continents represented - Europa (almost all), Africa (South Africa,

North African visitors) , America (USA, Canada, Brazil (expositors,

speakers, and visitors), Asia (China and India with numerous

delegations, Japan in video connexion), Australia (RemTech Expo

is partner of Clean-up Australia)

REMTECH 19-21 September 2018:

With 2 New Areas: Urban regeneration and circular chemistry.

This report has been possible thanks to the

commitment of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Contaminated Sites and Brownfields, which

is composed by members of National Reference Centres (NRCs) with the mandate of the

EIONET NRC Soil.

5th Meeting of the EU Expert Group on Soil Protection Brussels 24th October 2017

Representatives Ad-Hoc WG on Contaminated Sites and Brownfields

Country

Dietmar Mueller-Grabher Austria

Johan Ceenaeme Belgium/Flanders

Esther Goidts Belgium/Wallonia

Christoph Reusser Switzerland

Antonio Callaba de Roa Spain

Milan Sanka Czech Republic

Veronique Antoni France

Antonella Vecchio Marco Falconi

Italy

Andreja Steinberger Croatia

Sophie Capus Luxembourg

Frank Swartjes Netherlands

Kine Martinsen Norway

Jorge Santos Garcia Portugal

Dragana Vidojevic Serbia

Bernarda Podlipnik Slovenia

Katarina Paluchova Slovakia

Christian Andersen Denmark

David Middleton United Kingdom

Borisslava Borissova Bulgaria

Outi Pyy Finland

Mina Patsalidou Cyprus

Olav Ojala Estonia

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION,

Ana Payá Pérez

EC-Joint Research Centre / European Soil Data Centre

http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu

e-mail : ana.paya-perez@ec.europa.eu

5th Meeting of the EU Expert Group on Soil Protection Brussels 24th October 2017