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Groundwater Protection in Selected Countries 2. Point Sources
In England, there are currently no legal drivers for remediation of contaminated sites. These drivers will be supplied when Part IIA from the Environment Act, 1995 is implemented. This regulation will enable the Environment Agency to serve Remediation Notices. In addition to the lack of drivers for remediation, there is also a lack of requirements for identifying and reporting of contaminated sites. Therefore, there is no national list of contaminated sites. Currently, the best information on point sources stems from a recent study carried out by Entec UK Ltd, commissioned by the National Rivers Authority (the predecessor to the Environment Agency). The data in this study was collated in 1995 and was collected from water companies, Waste Regulation Authorities, the National Rivers Authority itself, and a literature search. The information below is largely based on this study (Environment Agency, 1996). DETR Capital Fund Even though Part IIA from the Environment Act is not yet implemented, there are some funds available from the central government via the DETR Capital Fund. This fund was originally established in 1990 to provide finance for the local authorities in connection to remediation of hazardous situations arising from migrating gas from closed landfills. In 1997/98 the Environment Agency was given access to the fund to deal with unacceptable pollution of water resources where there are problems of establishing liability and ownership of affected land, where the site owner is unable to pay, or where the situation identified demands urgent action. 2.1 Number of SitesThe study referred to above identified 1205 point sources of pollution which threaten groundwater. Of these, a total of 777 were known to have caused some groundwater pollution. A total of 210 have had an impact on a groundwater abstraction. These numbers are considered to be gross underestimates. It is now assumed that the number of sites with significant groundwater contamination is around 5,000. It is estimated that 2,000 of these will require a significant remediation effort (Harris, 1999). Remediated sites Since remediation activities have been undertaken privately, official documentation of the number of sites remediated is not collected. The study mentioned above, however, found that remediation has been initiated at 44% (or 530 sites) of the identified sites in 1995. 2.2 Time frame for clean-upSince the regulation for remediation of contaminated sites has not yet been implemented, official estimates of time frame for the clean-up of sites posing threats to the groundwater have not yet been made. However, the Environment Agency predicts that all sites can not be dealt with within a period much less than 20 years. In addition, use of slower remediation techniques such as natural attenuation will require additional time. 2.3 CostsThe total cost of remediation is not known since remediation is largely financed by site owners and not reported. A total of 1.9 mill GBP was allocated in 1998/99. Expenditures from the DETR Capital Fund are estimated to increase to 3 mill GBP in 2000/01. The majority of this money has up to this point been spent on site investigation in preparation for remediation.
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