| Groundwater
pollution in industrialized sites is a general
problem in a variety of European cities. Most
of them are located in river basins and use
groundwater for water supply from local shallow
aquifer systems. Within the last decades changes
in land use and ownership have resulted in
complex contamination patterns, such as
heterogeneous distribution of contaminants,
different contaminants and large subsurface
areas. Industrial development and the need for
groundwater conservation are in acute conflict. Today, large amounts of
private and public money are spent to identify
and assess point sources of contamination without
being able to reliably quantify their impact on
the groundwater quality; numerous remediation
schemes are operated without an economical
evaluation of their long-term performance.
Furthermore, remediation targets often are not
clearly defined and do not necessarily include
aspects of future land use. Throughout Europe
numerous guidelines and directives exist at the
national level, focussing on the characterization
and evaluation of individual sites - but none of
the approaches is applicable to industrial
regions as a whole.
INCORE aims
at providing a cost-efficient
technical-administrative set of tools to
optimize investigation, evaluation and management
of contaminated groundwater and land in urban
industrial areas, considering regional aspects
such as complex land-use patterns, land-use
specific contamination and the extent of urban
industrial areas. This will allow the
revitalization of groundwater resources and soil
in these areas. Innovation of current scientific,
technical, economic and administrative
methodologies will be tackled.
Four European
cities, which share the same groundwater problems
within their industrialized urban areas, have
committed themselves to jointly develop such a
set of tools. At the same time there is a
wide-spread variation of specific local
conditions which provide a representative range
to be expected at EU scale.
The work
programme can be summarized in three main
groups, which are investigation, assessment and
revitalization. Based on the idea of emission
oriented integral investigation, an innovative
cyclic approach in three steps (cycle I to III)
is being proposed which starts with the screening
of groundwater plumes at the scale of the whole
industrial area and ends with the remediation of
individual source areas or the containment of
plumes. The major advantage of this approach
is that the number of areas to be considered for
further investigation and remediation is reduced
from one cycle to the next with a high level of
investigation certainty. Consequently, a large
potentially contaminated area is screened but
only a small area may be ultimately remediated.
To achieve the
projects goals following main deliverables
have been defined:
- Application
strategies and recommendations for
investigation of contaminated groundwater
and land in industrialised urban areas.
- Methodology
for optimal selection, combination and
application of innovative remediation
technologies
- Recommendations
to harmonize, improve and accelerate
administrative work with respect to
PPP-Models in the integral abatement of
water pollution from contaminated land,
landfills and sediments in Europe.
INCORE-Project
data
Economic impact of
revitalization process is expected by providing
incentives for new business settlements. The
public authorities will be given the chance to
solve negative site aspects, improve and regain
the quality of life and environment in urban
areas and furthermore sustainable develop their
city.
The INCORE-consortium
consists of research institutes, consultancy and
engineering companies as well as public
authorities from four European cities (see
figure). The partners were selected according to
criteria, which ensure the input of innovative
approaches and technologies as well as a
successful performance of the project in order to
the demands of the stakeholders.
Figure:
INCORE-partners and their role in the consortium
The INCORE
approach supports the revitalization of urban
industrial land inline with the Aalborg
Charter of European Cities and Towns Towards
Sustainability. Major impacts deriving from
contaminated land are groundwater contamination
and restrictions to land use. INCORE emphasizes
the sustainable use of groundwater resources in
line with the key objectives of EU water
policy.
For
further information and requests please contact
the project co-ordinator:
UW-Umweltwirtschaft
GmbH
Dr. Thomas Ertel
Friolzheimer Straße 3
D-70499 Stuttgart
Fon:
+49-711-989 78-123
Fax: +49-711-989 78-100
e-mail:
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