Dietmar Müller and Hervé Gaboriau

The selection of adequate remediation technologies is the fundamental step within contaminated land management. Today, this process is mainly driven by cost considerations and the specifics of a given site. Therefore, the development of a broader evaluation system, including commonly recognized approaches to assess wider environmental impacts, is intended to make the environmental dimension of remediation projects and technologies more visible and better understandable. This article outlines a recommendation for a tiered approach, starting from a qualitative pre-assessment of the wider environmental effects, recommending a simplified quantitative analysis as a central second stage of assessment, up to a full life-cycle analysis as a final step. A tiered approach to assess the wider environmental effects of remediation may be useful to:

    allow the comparison of different remediation technologies with regard to sustainability issues;

    stimulate the consideration of wider environmental effects in the selection and implementation of remediation projects; and

    make the advantages of innovative remediation technologies visible and understandable.

Key words: contaminated land management, cost considerations, evaluation system, innovative remediation technologies, life-cycle analysis, sustainability, tiered approach

Land Contamination & Reclamation, 17 (3-4), 651-659 (2009)

DOI 10.2462/09670513.965

© EPP Publications Ltd 2009

Article code 965