Summary, Miljøstyrelsen

Technology Programme for Soil and Groundwater Contamination 2003

Summary

In 1996 a special scheme started with a view to developing remediation and prevention technologies for soil contamination.

The background and strategies for the development scheme were described in the "Programme for Development of Technology – Soil and Groundwater Contamination - December 1996". Following this, a plan has been prepared every year for the following year’s projects.

Since the start of the scheme about 125 projects have been implemented, of which just less than a half (52) have contributed to testing various prevention techniques, while the remaining 73 are elucidation projects on different methods of prevention or general knowledge about soil contamination.

This programme provides an overview of the projects that have been implemented and describes proposed projects for 2003. In 2002, an overall report was prepared of all of the prevention techniques and measurement methods tested since the inception of the scheme.

During summer 2002, KPMG completed a thorough evaluation of the programme for the period 1996-2001. The evaluation was commissioned by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency in order to obtain an overall status of the programme’s results, knowledge sharing and possible effects, and in order to ascertain whether the goals of the programme are being achieved and whether administration is satisfactory.

The evaluation concluded that

from 1996 to the end of 2001 a total of 112 projects have been completed through the Technology Programme, all of which are within the framework and targets the Technology Programme is to promote,
the programme has clearly contributed to preparing a foundation for risk analyses of current contamination, and to selecting the best prevention technologies for the specific contamination,
the scheme has developed knowledge about a number of new techniques with a high remediation effect and which are promising for future prevention technologies,
administration of the scheme, carried out by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, has been extremely satisfactory and has exploited the resources in the Technology Programme expertly and differentially,
the scheme has been administered in close cooperation with counties, consultants, and research institutions and this has ensured high technical quality for the projects as well as that projects are directly applicable in relation to counties’ prevention measures for soil and groundwater contamination,
experience and knowledge from the projects has been effectively transmitted to the actual users of the scheme – counties and consultants.

The grant for 2003 has been significantly reduced to DKK5.5 million. Because of this, it is expected that the number of field projects commenced in 2003 will be reduced to 3-5.

Both public and private contractors can apply for subsidies in order to have specific prevention technologies documented and tested. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency is starting elucidation projects and other projects on soil contamination.

In early 2003, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency called for counties to submit suggestions for sites that could be used to document selected prevention technologies under the programme.