Management of Contaminated Sites and Land in Central and Eastern Europe

Estonia

Country Characterisation

Background

Estonia regained its political independence in 1991. The major towns of Estonia are Tartu (109 100), Narva (80 300), Kohtla-Järve (70 800), and Pärnu (52 000). The administrative divisions are counties (15), which are divided further into local government areas (parish).

Privatisation of enterprises is mainly completed in Estonia. Only large infrastructure enterprises have not been privatised: Estonian Railways, Estonian Energy, and oil shale mines.

In general terms, the most hazardous consequence of soil contamination in Estonia is the contamination of groundwater. About 65 % of the drinking water come from groundwater abstraction. Maximum effort must be devoted to the preservation of the water quality of aquifers for the sustainable utilisation of the groundwater resources.

The most contaminated areas are located in the north-east Estonia industrial region and several contamination sources are located in the Tallinn-Paldiski area. Here, the upper aquifers are contaminated, and groundwater is not abstracted from these any more.

Since the middle of the 1990’ies, investigations of soil and groundwater contamination as well as remedial activities have been performed in Estonia. Furthermore, many remediation projects are to be carried out in the nearest future. Main problems today are the prioritising and cost-benefit assessments of the remediation projects.

Definition of Contaminated Sites and Land

There is no specific definition for contaminated sites and land. Also, there is no official definition for contaminated military sites. According to a survey carried out by UBA in 1997 any site that has been used by the Soviet army.

Legislation

There are no complete legislation regulating investigations and clean-up of past-contaminated properties. Harmonising of the legislation is under way at the present time. Main attention is paid to contamination prevention measures.

The constitution of Estonia declares, that everyone must preserve the living and natural environment and compensate any damage, caused to the environment. The law must prescribe the order of compensation. In 1997 a new environmental liability legislation was in preparation.

Requirements of soil protection are included in several legislative acts. It is aimed to follow the "polluter pays principle", but the laws and lower legislative acts in force so far are not systematic regarding this:

	The Water Law prescribes measures of groundwater protection and indirectly also soil protection. E.g. wastewater can be discharged to soil only according to regulations set by the Government.
	The Administrative Law prescribes the fine for breaching land and soil protection requirements in the amount of 50 to 200 wages. Soil protection requirements are not regulated in detail within this law. Fines are small and do not correspond to the extent of soil contamination.
	The Waste Law regulates the question of liquidating environmental contamination caused by waste disposal. The polluter is obliged to liquidate the contamination. In case the polluter can not be identified, the owner of the site must arrange for the remediation and cover the expense.

The only act directly dealing with this item is the Preliminary Environmental Quality Objectives for Contaminants in Soil and Groundwater approved by regulation No. 174 in April 1995. This document sets guiding values for the evaluation of soil and groundwater contamination, and leaves the decision-making on remedial activities etc. to be made by local environmental authorities.

Furthermore, by March 1998 the Ministry of Environment has approved a norm on Application of Environmental Norms for Establishments Connected with Oil Products.

In the future, the soil protection legislation will be more precisely regulated by means of the Water Law, which is subject to changes at present. Among others, the following will be incorporated: Prescription of contamination preventive measures, specification of responsibility for already existing contamination, obligation of establishment of a contaminated sites database, and subsidy for owners of contaminated sites performing clean-up activities. Also, an Environmental Monitoring Law and an Environmental Impact Assessment and Auditing Law has bee drafted. The latter will require enterprises posing high environmental risk to perform environmental audits at least every three years.

The topic of remediation of past-contamination is considered in the Estonian Environmental Strategy and National Environmental Action Plan. Concerning past-contaminated sites the plan includes the following topics:

	Establishment of an inventory and environmental risk assessment of abandoned military sites and contamination from industry and landfills.
	Localisation of past-contaminated areas posing a direct risk to groundwater and human health.
	Remediation of land disturbed due to mining activities.
	Abolishment of the spread of contaminants from active industrial waste depositories into the ground, surface waters and groundwater and remediation of abandoned industrial waste depositories.

Implementation of Limit Values

Guiding values for the evaluation of soil and groundwater contamination stated by the Preliminary Environmental Quality Objectives for Contaminants in Soil and Groundwater (approved by regulation No. 174 in April 1995) are shown in the table below.

The objectives in the list are either target or guidance values. The target value for a pollutant in the environment indicates the concentration which is considered harmless for human health and ecosystems and which is set as a goal of consistent and systematic efforts of the society. The guidance value indicates the concentration which, when exceeded, would cause unacceptable health or environmental risk at the specific location. In order to take decisions concerning the possibility of further use or the necessary treatment method, investigations should be carried out at the risky site and/or region. Values for the groups of substances (e.g. cyanides and phenols) should be considered as maximum values in the given group, unless indicated otherwise. In the case of necessity, more strict requirements for individual compounds in the group may be established, depending on their risk. If the guidance value is exceeded in an industrial zone, the establishment of new enterprises and the expansion of existing enterprises should be avoided at the specific site. In practise, the guidance values are used to make land use restrictions and not to implement clean-up measures (due to the limited resources).

Responsible Public Authorities

Management of contaminated sites and land is performed by:

	The Ministry of Environment.
	Local environmental authorities.

Concerning the 1565 military sites of the former Soviet army located in Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Defence was responsible for these before the breakdown of the Soviet Union. After the break down of the Soviet Union the sites are currently under the following responsibilities:

Recently, a working group with the title "Commission to assess environmental damage at former Soviet bases" has been set-up, consisting of representatives from:

	The Ministry of the Environment,
	The Central Environment Laboratory,
	The Academy of Science,
	The State Financial Control Authority.

Except for military sites, there are no inventories on contaminated sites.

Sources of Soil and Groundwater Contamination

Large chemical industry enterprises are located in the north-eastern Estonia, the main enterprises being the following: Kiviter chemical works (processing oil shale), AS Silmet (producing rare metals), AS Nitrofert (producing mineral fertilisers), and Velsicul Eesti AS (producing preserving agents). The most serious environmental problems are related to oil shale processing and rare metals production. Both enterprises were founded as large industries of the Soviet time, ignoring the environmental requirements. Industrial waste from the enterprises is dumped into waste tips, piled directly on the soil, and contaminated industrial wastewater is not treated properly. E.g. the waste tip at Kiviter chemical works near the city of Kohtla-Järve covers 250 ha elevated up to 100 m above ground. The groundwater in the area is contaminated with high concentrations of phenols, PAHs etc. along with sulphur compounds and metals.

Production and use of shale oil causes a range of environmental problems specific for Estonia. Shale oil is environmentally more hazardous than regular heating oil due to the composition of the shale oil. On average, the shale oil contains 25% water soluble phenols, alongside aromatic and polyaromatic compounds. Furthermore, the specific weight of shale oil is close to the specific weight of water having an impact on the spreading of the oil and also complicating the separation of the oil from water. Careless handling and storing of shale oil has caused serious contamination cases in the entire Estonia in the surroundings of fuel storage and asphalt production plants.

Also, Sillamäe Rare Metals Production Plant present serious environmental problems due to radioactive and industrial waste storage. It is old waste storage, which should be closed as the new storage will be designed and constructed. Contaminants are mainly discharged into the Finnish Gulf, since the waste storage is located on clay layers. Large amounts of nitrogen compounds, used in the production process, are discharged from the waste storage into the sea.

Oil shale mining is carried out by the state-owned monopoly Eesti Põlevkivi. The mines are only operating at 50% of their exploitation capacity due to reduced energy demands. The groundwater table in the oil shale mining areas is lowered. The groundwater lowering has an impact on the upper aquifers water quality. Furthermore, the present mining technologies have waste yields of about 40% of the output weight. E.g. in 1994 some 5,5 million tonnes of mining waste was produced of which 1,8 million tonnes were disposed of. Totally, about 135 million tonnes of accumulated mining residues cover an area of about 336 ha. Several mining tips have self-ignited. The waste tips also contaminate soil and groundwater with toxic organic compounds. Mines are closed without performance of all necessary environmental measures, and so far it is not decided, who will responsible for old mining areas (both underground mines and open-pit quarries) if the state monopoly is privatised.

Phosphoric mining at Maardu on the border of Tallinn was closed some years ago. The phosphoric plant is re-profiled, but the old phosphoric mines do not have any possessor today. Mined deposits contain dictyonema shale with a high content of organic compounds and heavy metals (incl. moderate content of uranium), which causes self-ignition of mining tailings. Burning and oxidation of dictyonema shale produces large amounts of sulphur compounds and heavy metals. The upper aquifer in this area is contaminated with sulphate and heavy metals.

The electric power production causes generation of ash waste. It is estimated that ash fields contain 200 million tonnes of ash. The ash is highly alkaline and has high concentrations of metals. Contaminants are washed out from the ash and contaminated surface and groundwater. The impact of the contamination in the surrounding of the power plants is somewhat decreased, as the power plants are located away form densely populated areas. The first priority environmental problem of power plants is air contamination.

The condition of liquid fuel facilities vary from ideal or minor environmental problems at recently constructed fuel terminals and service stations, to extremely bad shape and hazardous facilities dated from the Soviet time. At old facilities, the condition of storage and loading places is not corresponding to elementary environmental requirements. The most drastic case is a heavy contamination with fuel caused by mismanagement and poor condition of loading facilities and covering an area of approximately 6 ha around the Paldiski Central Boiler house. Similar problems are encountered at many civil oil storage facilities e.g. at district boiler houses, railway stations and various facilities with underground fuel storage tanks among others due to the fact that pipelines are usually in poor conditions. Furthermore, the securing of liquid fuel transportation safety poses a problem and several hazardous fuel transportation accidents have happened.

At railway stations, the main reason of extensive soil and groundwater contamination is extremely low level of fuel management, distribution and recycling. Underground fuel reservoirs are frequently used, the condition of which cannot be controlled. Big share of fuel reservoirs is amortised and environmental protection devices are outdated or missing at all. The pipelines are usually in poor condition, and waste oil commonly discharged directly on the railway. Accidents were common and keep happening up to now, caused by poor state of technical appliances of the railways and the rolling stock. The most seriously contaminated areas of the Estonian Railway are at Tallinn, Tapa, Tartu and Valga railway stations.

In the earlier years, the Soviet Army used two component liquid rocket fuel including an acidic component and an organic component. The organic component contained toxic compounds (xylidine (CH₃)₂C₆H₃NH₂ and triethylamine (C₂H₅)₃N). Contamination with rocket fuel has been more thoroughly studied at the Keila-Joa missile base where the contamination is spread at a 25 ha area. Contamination has been found at several other former rocket bases.

So far, landfills in Estonia have been located without proper preceding site investigations. Also, no complementary protective liner has been established before the beginning of waste dumping at the individual landfills. It has, however, been sought to minimise negative impacts by locating the landfills in areas with better natural protection of groundwater from surface contamination. Landfills with household waste have caused groundwater contamination, but these problems seem to be easier to handle than the oil products and industrial waste contamination problems. Formerly, waste oil has also been disposed at several landfills. At several landfills such liquid waste disposals have been made separately using old quarries or basins.

Contamination with heavy metals have been detected at dumping sites of used accumulators at former military bases, near galvanisation industries, and old paint production plants. At present, the extent of such contaminating activities is not known. Finally it is noted, that large amounts of agricultural pesticides have been left in the storage facilities at former collective farms from the Soviet times.

Concerning military sites, the sites of greatest environmental concern are:

	Harbours with sunken ships and the resulting sediment contamination.
	Airbases with heavy fuel contamination (kerosene). E.g. the river Parnu flows along one major airbase, and in the past there has been a fire incident due to free phase fuel contamination floating on the river.
	Subsoil fuel stocks.
	Shooting ranges with unexploded mines.
	Sites where hazardous substances have been stored.

Ecologically the most harmful military sites are the airfields (especially fuel leaks here). The military accepted norm for losses of jet fuel was up to 0.1%, but recently it was estimated that losses can be several per cent. Military airfields used large amounts of aircraft fuel (each over 10 000 tons annually).

The fuel losses were caused by leaking fuel tanks and by careless fuel loading. Large leaks due to pipeline damages and discharges into surface water bodies are known at Pärnu, Tartu and Ämari. In Tartu and Sillaotsa military airfields serious accidents, where thousands of tons of jet fuel leaked were released into the environment, have taken place in period 1968 - 1991.

Groundwater contamination with nitrate was a serious problem in Estonia. In the end of 1980-s the content of nitrate in dug wells and shallow drilled wells exceeded the permitted limit concentration (45 mg NO3 -/l): Southern Estonia 40-70%; Põltsamaa region 30-60%; Pandivere Upland 20-40%; Lahemaa region and Muhu Island less than 10% of wells. In the limestone outcrop area was studied the connections between the fertilisation of fields, yield of crops and nitrate content in the aquifer, closest to the surface. The quality of the groundwater is determined by the amount of nitrogen not used by the crops and the volume of infiltrating water.

The most thorough monitoring of the content of nitrogen compounds in the groundwater was carried out in Järvamaa region. Groundwater quality monitoring in Järvamaa region is a direct continuation of water protection schemes for the agricultural enterprises of the region, compiled in the end of 1980-s and beginning of 1990-s, during which water samples were collected from 70% of the wells of the county. Selection of the monitoring observation points was made by the water protection schemes. These observations are the only ones in Estonia, which make it possible to follow the dynamics of the formation of groundwater quality during the year. Groundwater contamination with nitrate will be a local problem. The problem still exists at intensive agricultural areas near Tartu and Adavere, where contents of nitrate are over 45 mg/l in dug and drilled wells.

Number of Registered Contaminated Sites / Contaminated Land Areas

Sites are assessed according to a three-phase assessment procedure with the objective to assign sites to risk classes (in total five).

Concerning military sites, the status of the site assessment is shown in the table below.

			Assessment phase
Category	Description	Sites	I	II	III
1	Sites with no risk potential; i.e. accommodation facilities, specific stocks, light houses.	820
2	Sites with a low potential of contamination; i.e. low frequented air hangers, minor shooting ranges.	290
3	Sites with small or minor contaminated areas; i.e. telecommunication facilities or facilities of the boarder troops.	300
4	Sites with large contaminated areas and sites contaminated with hazardous substances; i.e. sites where chemical weapons have been stored or handled, fuel stocks, rocket bases, military harbours and other.	135
5	Sites with heavily contaminated areas, such as airbases, specific areas of rocket bases, and large fuel stocks.	20
	Total	1565

The former Soviet Army (and later the Russian Army) exploited a total of 1565 sites and objects in Estonia, their area totalling over 81 000 hectares (approximately 1.8% of the country’s territory). In Tallinn only, the Soviet Army used 872 ha at 185 locations.

By the end of 1994, an inventory completed of environmental pollution and the damage to nature at the military sites of the former USSR army in Estonia. Oil pollution is by far the greatest problem affecting surface and groundwater and soil over large areas and to considerable depth. During their occupation and use, many spills and accidents have occurred, but these were practically inaccessible for Estonian environmental inspection. After withdrawal of the military forces, it appeared that there is extensive oil and chemical pollution.

Investigation Methods

Identification of Potentially Contaminated Sites and Areas

The assessment methods used for the above-mentioned three-phase assessment procedure for classification of sites is the following:

	Phase I On-site visit, first assessment based on visual expert judgement (1565 military sites).
	Phase II Includes a detailed investigation to define further action (155 military sites).
	Phase III Includes a detailed risk assessment (groundwater and soil samples) (for military sites: 20 airbases, missile bases, and major fuel stocks).

Along the on-sites visits during phase I, inventories of hazardous substances are made. Identified hazardous substances are classified according to the Estonian Waste Directive. A land use specific list of relevant substances does not exist.

All military sites have been preliminarily assessed (phase I) based on on-site visits and expert judgement and been assigned to the five priority classes (see the table above).

Investigation of Contaminated Sites and Areas

Phase II includes the following data collection:

	Name and registration ID of the site.
	Site specific contamination or substances.
	Estimation of the amount of waste produced at the site (t).
	Size of the site (km²).
	Duration of polluting activities.
	Description of the potential risks connected to substances or wastes that have been detected at the site.
	Description of the possible environmental impacts.

The phase II assessments usually includes soil and groundwater sampling and analysis but not compulsory.

The total risk potential of a site is defined according to the following criteria:

	Potential risk to human health.
	Potential risk to ecosystems.
	In the case of groundwater resources: Potential impacts to drinking water resources.

Concerning phase III, a standard procedure or standard criteria have not been defined yet.

The material base of the Estonian consulting companies and laboratories provide for the proper execution of the majority of soil and groundwater investigation works. There are, however, problems with precise detection of some specific organic compounds, but the laboratory base is developing. At present, there are no internationally accredited laboratories in Estonia.

The actual problem of the investigation and assessment works is a lack of unified instructions e.g. accepted minimum requirements. Thus the comparison and general use of results obtained by different investigations and assessments is rather complicated.

A complicated item also, is the priority setting of the remediation activities. No standard methodology for this has been developed in Estonia. The primary basis of priority setting is individual expert evaluations on risks posed to human health and groundwater resources. However, it is noted that profound risk assessments are costly.

Handling and Treatment of Excavated Contaminated Soil

No data available

Measures Used by Remediation of Soil and Groundwater Contamination

Experience has been gained by use of e.g. the following measures for remediation of soil and groundwater contamination:

	Selective abstraction (by skimming) of free phase oil contamination e.g. an airfield.
	Remedial pumping of groundwater contaminated with dissolved oil compounds and on-site water treatment by striping.
	Bioremediation of soil contaminated with oil products.

Remediation activities have been undertaken at the areas, where contaminated soil and groundwater pose danger to human health. The most extensive activities focus on the remediation of oil contamination. Localisation of jet fuel contamination has been carried out at the Tapa airfield in co-operation between Estonian and Danish experts since 1993. Remediation of groundwater contamination is based on the selective abstraction (skimming) of the free phase oil layer, and on the subsequent separation with concurrent pumping, venting and discharging of groundwater contaminated with dissolved oil products to the infiltration fields.

The liquidation of samine contamination in soil and groundwater is being carried out at Keila-Joa, based on German know-how. At the same site, the bioremediation method of cleaning contaminated soil from oil products is tested in co-operation with the Finnish Water and Environment Board. The localisation of samine contamination by pumping and treating of contaminated groundwater was started in 1995.

Large chemical industry enterprises, Kiviter Chemical Works and Silmet Rare Metals Production Plant have started contamination localisation activities. The elaboration of Silmet Rare Metals Plant waste storage closing project is financed by PHARE. Decreasing of Kiviter Chemical Works phenol emissions has been started with construction of industrial wastewater settlement basins, followed by conducting wastewater into the treatment facility.

Liquidation of waste oil disposals (oil pools) has been started, but these works will last for several years.

The new owners have remediated some gasoline stations and have started the clean-up works of some oil terminals. Clean-up works are more extensive in Tallinn, where the price of land is quite high.

Concerning military sites of the former Soviet army, Estonia has identified all these sites at total costs of approximately 1.5 million US dollar. About two thirds have been financed by Estonia and the other third by Finland, Germany and Denmark. This first assessment is supposed to be the basis for further financial negotiations with the Russian authorities. The small returns from selling metal scrap from former Soviet military sites are used to finance very urgent measures.

The responsibilities of the Government and the private owners of past-contaminated properties are not exactly defined by the present legislation. The fact, that the privatisation of land and enterprises fall under different civil jurisdictions, may have a negative impact on both economic development and environmental protection.

Site owners but also leasing partners are usually held liable for contamination. Private organisations are usually called on taking care of clean-up measures.

Foreign purchasers usually require an environmental audit, before sealing contracts. Typically, the purchaser pays the audits. Local investors usually try to confine any possible later pretensions by ordering investigations of soil contamination. Environmental auditing of enterprises under privatisation is not a standard procedure. The Ministry of Environment has proposed to include environmental audits as obligatory in the privatisation process, but the proposal has not yet been fully supported. According to the State Privatisation Programme there is a demand to carry out relevant environmental studies including environmentally hazardous objects.

Based on the phase I assessments of all military sites, total costs to restore major environmental damages caused at the former Soviet military bases are estimated to be about 5 billion US dollars.

No data available

Illustrative Cases

In 1996, groundwater monitoring has been performed at the following military areas as a follow up on monitoring performed in 1995 and previous years:

	Tapa airfield: 58 water samples were collected from 15 locations four times a year. During the recent years, the content of oil components has decreased in the monitoring wells. From 1994 to 1996 e.g. the mean concentration fell from 133 µg/l to 62 µg/l. During this period, part of the free-phase fuel contamination was removed by remedial pumping, whereby the average thickness of the free-phase floating at the groundwater table was reduced by 12 cm. It is noted that during the period, oil components have not been detected in the wells for drinking water supply for a neighbouring city.
	Ämari airfield: 31 water samples were collected from 10 locations four times a year. Compared to the monitoring performed in 1995, the content of oil components in private wells located in a neighbouring city has decreased considerably. However, the content of oil components in the groundwater near one of the contaminant sources (a fuel pumping station) has not decreased considerably, reaching seasonally 2050 µg/l.
	Haapsalu airfield: 8 water samples were collected from 4 wells twice a year. The content of oil components in a well located in a fuel storage area was below 600 µg/l. In other monitoring wells, the content of oil components has also generally decreased.
	Rakvere helicopter airfield: 8 water samples were collected from 4 wells twice a year. The content of oil components in monitoring wells located in a fuel storage area has decreased, although the decrease was not continuous a quite large variations have been observed. Levels ranging from 11800 µg/l down to 175 µg/l have been observed.
	Keila-Joa rocket base: 23 samples were collected from 5 wells five times a year. The aim of the monitoring was to determine the concentration of rocket fuel components (xylidene(s) and triethylamine) in the groundwater. Also, content of other components was measured. Comparing the data from 1995 and 1996 show that the content of xylidene(s) and triethylamine has been decreasing. Other contaminants have also been identified. Contaminants have been found in groundwater at a distance of 200 m, from the centre of the contaminant sources.
	Paldiski marine base: At the former Soviet marine base an abandoned submarine training centre and a torpedo factory have been identified as two of a number of major sources of severe contamination. A variety of different wastes and wrecked ships have been detected in the harbour basin, and there are high levels of radioactive contamination in the sediments. The harbour area is highly polluted by different types of stockpiled materials, particularly fuels, chemicals and torpedoes. The submarine training centre, which includes two nuclear reactors, a boiler house and a wastewater treatment plant, poses the particular problem of nuclear contamination. The cost of ad hoc measures to remove only the nuclear reactors has been estimated to lie between 55 million and 90 million Euro.

Information provided by Maret Järv at the Ministry of the Environment in Estonia. June 14-15, 1999.

Ad Hoc International Working Group on Contaminated Land (1998). Ad Hoc CEE Forum on Contaminated Land. Report of the Warsaw Meeting, September 18, 1998. Report from the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape.

Ad Hoc International Working Group on Contaminated Land (1998). Papers from the International Workshop on Land Recovery and Man-Made Risks held in Vienna, November 16-18, 1998.

Baltic Environmental Forum (1998). Baltic State of the Environment Report Based on Environmental Indicators. Baltic Environmental Forum, Riga, Latvia.

POPIN (Population Information Network) (1999). The Demography of Countries with Economies in Transition. At gopher://gopher.undp.org/00/ungophers/popin/wdtrends.

Schaefer, K.W., F. Bieren, et al. (1997). Internationale Erfahrungen der Herangehensweise an die Erfassung, Erkundung Bewertung und Sanierung Militärischer Altlasten. Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency), volume 1 and 2, Berlin, Germany.

UN/ECE Statistical Division (1998). Trends in Europe and North America. 1998 Statistical Yearbook of the UN/ECE. At http://www.unece.org/stats/trend/trend_h.htm. Based on figures from 1994 – 1997.