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2. English Summary

During 1997, 407 contaminated sites were registered according to the Contaminated Sites Act. 98 sites were taken out of the register, and on 88 sites the landowners were on the basis of investigations or remediation given permission to change the use of the land. The total number of contaminated sites was 4048.

1385 of the 4048 sites are priority sites that are expected to be included in the Public Remediation Programme.

The priority sites consist of 360 sites used for residential purposes or the likes, 822 sites presenting a risk to groundwater and located in areas of special interest for the future water supply, and 203 sites used for residential purposes and also located in areas of special interest for the future water supply.

The counties have in 1997 given special priority to sites located in areas of special interest for the future water supply. Thus, 59% of the 407 sites registered in 1997 are located in these areas, covering 35% of Denmark. Also sites used for residential purposes have been given high priority, and constitute 34% of the sites registered in 1997.

During the period 1993-97 an increasing number of remediation activities have been carried out on sites covered by the Contaminated Sites Act, especially in the form of publicly financed remediation work. By the end of 1997 remediation work has been carried out at 1,115 sites, of which 207 in 1997.

Reports on recent contamination indicates that pollution has taken place also after the timelimits specified in the Contaminated Sites Act.

Remediation has not taken place at 298 of the 862 new contaminations, reported in 1996 or 1997 and which are not covered by the Contaminated Sites Act. The real number is probably higher, since not all municipalities have reported to the Danish EPA.

An overall picture of the situation regarding soil contamination - both sites covered by the Contaminated Sites Act and new contaminations - shows that remediation has been carried out at 889 sites in 1997. Of these, 100 were publicly financed, 375 were paid by the landowner and 414 financed under other remediation schemes, especially the agreement with the Oil Industry on remediation of former petrol stations. A total of 525 million DKK has been used (excluding investigations and remediation work carried out at new contaminations or financed by the landowner).

In 1997, the Programme for Development of Technology, Soil and Groundwater Contamination developed into the stage of testing and documentation of remediation technology, and a total of 8 field projects were started in 1997.

According to the Contaminated Sites Council, the assessment of new incidents of soil contamination underlines the importance of concerted legislation on soil contamination, covering all types of contamination of the soil.