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Groundwater Protection in Selected Countries

2. Introduction

2.1 Background

The purpose of this report is to describe policies and strategies for groundwater protection in selected countries in relation to soil contamination and remediation of point sources. The report is also intended for use in discussions at the 4^th meeting of the "Ad Hoc International Working Group on Contaminated Land", an international forum for collaboration and exchanges between international experts working for governments from industrialised nations in the field of contaminated land policies. This meeting is to be held in Copenhagen on June 14-15, 1999.

At its most recent meeting, the Ad Hoc Group made the following statement:

"Most industrialised countries have developed laws on the protection of groundwater. Following the principle of precaution, most of these laws require the maintenance of the "multifunctionality" of all groundwaters. These requirements are mostly very stringent, but their implementation pose enormous financial problems, as complete decontamination and the "aftercare" measures to ensure continued effectiveness of the long-term in cases of only partial decontamination or containment of the contaminants are very expensive. It is therefore necessary to examine these laws from the point of view of the contaminated sites management and to consider another "philosophy" of groundwater protection:

	Is it acceptable to drop these high demands of multifunctionality of the groundwater in cases where a contamination is already existing, and to define tolerable site specific and usage dependant remediation goals on another level?
	What policies and strategies should be followed in such cases, taking into account all aspects necessary to reach sustainability?
	Which implementation tools have to be developed?
	How are these strategies administered over long periods?"

In the following chapters, various aspects of contaminated sites, water supply and groundwater protection strategy are discussed. The report also includes 5 attachments, one for each country. In these attachments, details on these subjects can be found for the specific countries.

2.2 Europe’s Environment: The Second Assessment

In 1991, European environment ministers met in the Dobris castle in the Czech Republic and launched a number of initiatives. As a result of this meeting, the European Environment Agency prepared the first pan-European State of the Environment Report, the Dobris Assessment. This report identified and reviewed 12 environmental problems of particular European concern. Two of these concerns were Inland Waters (including groundwater) and Soil Degradation (including contaminated sites). A follow-up report to the Dobris Assessment was prepared for the 1998 Ministerial conference in Aarhus (EEA, 1998). This report is entitled Europe’s Environment,: The Second Assessment and focuses on the same 12 problems.

In its chapter on soil degradation, the Assessment mentions that data on contaminated sites from different European countries is heterogeneous and not suitable for aggregation in a reliable or consistent manner, a finding which was found to be true during the preparation of this report on five selected countries. The Assessment also mentions the following:

Chapter 9: Inland Waters

	There has been a general reduction in the total water abstraction in many countries since 1980.
	In Mediterranean countries, abstraction of water for irrigation has increased since 1980.

Chapter 11: Soil Degradation

	Most countries are in an early phase of site identification and registration.
	Information on drinking water impacts due to contaminated sites is fragmentary.
	In the majority of European countries, the management of contaminated sites is handled at a regional level.
	Most countries in Western Europe have recently established regulatory frameworks aimed at preventing future problems and cleaning up existing contamination.
	Only a few countries have specific clean-up legislation.
	Remediation techniques typically involve excavation, capping or pump-and-treat whereas in-situ techniques are seldom used because of their greater uncertainty of success.
	In most Western European countries, remediation measures are funded out of general taxation. Specific taxes on waste, fuel or petrol is used to increase the public budget in some countries.
	Figures for the costs for clean-up on a national basis are based on different assumptions and cannot be compared. They do indicate, however, that enormous costs are involved.

2.3 Selection of countries and acknowledgements

The countries selected for this study are Austria, Denmark, England, Spain and The United States. This selection has ensured that countries with a wide variety in climates has been treated. In addition, the selected countries exhibit differing traditions for water abstraction and approaches for the remediation of point sources. Finally, certain individuals from the involved countries have backgrounds and involvements in other programmes which made selection of their country desirable.

A contact person was appointed in each of the five countries to assist in the preparation of this report. Their contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

Mr. Dietmar Müller (Austria)
Abteilung Altlasten, Umweltbundesamt

Mr. Kim Dahlstrøm (Denmark)
Division of Soil Contamination, Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Mr. Bob Harris (England)
National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre, Environment Agency

Mr. Juan Grima Olmeda (Spain)
Insituto Tecnológico de Geominero del España

Mr. Bruce Means (USA)
Office of Emergency & Remedial Response, US Environmental Protection Agency

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