Summary and conclusions

Redegørelse om jordforurening 2008

This report is the annual report of the Contaminated Sites Council for the Minister for the Environment on efforts in relation to soil contamination.

The report for 2008 shows that after the reorganization that followed the Danish Government’s municipal structural reform, the Danish regions and municipalities are now moving towards a more stable and goal-oriented effort in relation to soil contamination. However, challenges related to the new IT systems and combined data were also present in 2008.

Compared to the previous years, this report contains a more detailed description of the efforts and administration of the Danish regions in relation to soil contamination.

In general, the regions have prioritised their efforts based on the focus areas dictated by the legislation. As a result, priority was given to studies and remediation actions in areas with special drinking water interests. Furthermore, studies and remediation actions have focused on areas with sensitive land use in the contaminated sites that were assessed to have the largest impact on the environment and health. As a part of these activities, the Danish regions have had a special focus on potential soil contamination at childcare institutions in 2008.

Soil contamination in numbers

A total of approx. 24,000 localities were mapped and registered with the regional authorities on 31 December 2008. Of these:

12,130 localities were mapped at the V2 level, i.e. soil contamination has been established by a site investigation.
- Approx. 50 percent of the localities mapped at V2 level are included in the focus areas of the Soil Contamination Act.
- There is an almost equal distribution between V2 level localities mapped due to residential land use etc, and localities mapped due to risk of drinking water contamination.
12,197 localities were mapped at V1 level, i.e. there is knowledge about activities that may have led to soil contamination.

There is a wide range of contamination sources. Petrol and service stations and other activities involving oil/petrol, along with dry cleaners and landfills, are still the main contamination sources that lead to mapping at V2 level.

Remediation of contamination

In 2008, a total of 465 remediation activities were carried out. Of these:

55 remediation activities were financed by the Danish regions,
24 remediation activities were financed by the government (the Land Depreciation Programme and the Danish Defence),
106 remediation activities were financed by the Environmental Fund of the Oil Industry,
128 remediation activities were financed by the insurance scheme for home oil tanks,
155 were voluntary remediation activities, or remediation actions as a response to injunctions on private persons, financed by private parties.

There is a significant increase in the number of remediation activities financed by the regions in 2008, compared to 2007, where the activities were affected by the government’s municipal structural reform. In 45 percent of the cases, the efforts were carried out to protect the groundwater, while 48 percent were carried out to protect residences, where the contamination posed either an indoor climate risk or a risk through contact with contaminated soil. 6 percent of the remedial activities were conducted at childcare institutions, and one percent was directed to the protection of environmental recipients.

The number of remediation activities carried out by the Environmental Fund of the Oil Industry and through the insurance scheme for home oil tanks in 2008 is lower than in 2007.

The number of voluntary remediation activities and remediation activities as a response to injunctions has decreased significantly in the last 2 years compared to 3 or 4 years ago. This decrease should be seen as an expression of the decrease in registration of new localities, rather than an expression of a lower activity in the area.

The total expenditure in relation to soil contamination, including the voluntary effort and the effort following injunctions, has been estimated at approx. 728 million DKK in 2008, whereof the total expenditures of the regions are approx. 409 million DKK.

Large contaminated sites

There are 126 large contaminated sites in Denmark, i.e. cases where the effort costs more than 10 million DKK. The account for the large contaminations sites shows that there has been and is a significant activity in major contamination sites within the public focus areas, in the regions in 2008.

The Land Depreciation Programme

In 2008, a commitment for about 50,8 million DKK was given in the Land Depreciation Programme. Application for the programme continued in 2008, but the number of applications has dropped slightly compared to previous years. The waiting list as of 31 December 2008 comprised 445 applications for remediation projects, corresponding to a total expenditure of 483 million DKK. In comparison, the waiting list as of 31 December 2007 was 472 applications or 482 million DKK. The waiting list has been decreasing since 2005.

Loan Scheme under the Land Depreciation Programme

In 2004, a loan scheme was set up for a trial period for the Land Depreciation Programme. The loan scheme gives home owners on the waiting list for the Land Depreciation Programme the possibility to take up government-guaranteed interest-only loans with interest subsidies from the government, that correspond to the Nationalbank’s lending rate. In this way a remediation of a residential site can be expedited. In 2008, 472 home owners were offered the scheme, of which 22 chose to make use of the scheme.

Soil Relocation

In the later years, it has not been possible to get a realistic account of the amount of soil, which is remedied and deposited in connection with the fulfilment of injunctions and voluntary efforts. As it has not been possible to determine a figure for this amount, it has not been possible to estimate the total volume of soil which has been relocated.

Shutdown of water abstraction wells

In 2009, the municipalities reported the shutdown of 69 water abstraction wells during 2008. Out of these, 24 were shutdown due to contamination from industrial sites. However, the data basis for shutdown wells is insufficient.

Re-evaluation

In 2007, the Danish Parliament passed an amendment to the Soil Contamination Act, stating that slightly contaminated soil should no longer be registered as contaminated. On this basis, the Danish regions re-evaluated 4,649 cases, whereof 552 were completely removed from the contaminated sites register, and 529 were partly removed.

Administration in the Danish regions

An assessment of the time spent by the regions shows that 20 percent of the resources are used on authority processing work, connected to §8a- and voluntary remediation efforts, the Environmental Fund of the Oil Industry, the Land Depreciation Programme and service. Among these, the regions undertake a number of functions and play an important role towards landowners, realtors, developers and municipalities.

In 2008, the regions received more than 50,000 direct enquiries from citizens and interested parties in total, requesting information on specific localities. To provide a better service, several regions have established web solutions, where citizens and others can seek information in an easier and quicker way. Not all regions have estimated the number of requests on their websites. As an example howver, the Region of Southern Denmark has reported 40,000 searches on their home page in 2008, aside from 50,000 personal enquiries.

Special Initiatives

Area classification and soil relocation

The Environmental Protection Agency has composed a guidance for municipalities on area classification as well as information material that can be used by the municipalities as a foundation for the information effort in the slightly contaminated areas.

Furthermore, as a consequence of the regulations on area classification, there is a new executive order on the relocation moving of soil which entered into force on 1 January 2008.

In February 2008, briefing texts on the new regulations on soil relocation were published on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency. The texts are directed towards the practical actors and can be reused by the municipalities on their websites.

The effort on childcare institutions

,At a meeting with Local Government Denmark (KL) and the Danish regions on 18 January 2008, the Minister for the Environment decided to expedite an already planned initiative regarding soil contamination at childcare institutions.

Among other things, the initiative consisted of a survey and a final report. The main conclusion in the report is that the regions and municipalities make a great effort to track down possible soil contaminations at childcare institutions. The report will be followed up by an updated study in 2009.

DK-Soil – new national soil database

Under the Danish Nature and Environment Portal, a project is conducted to establish a national soil database, DK-Soil, which will contain information on contaminated sites. The purpose of DK-Soil is to gather contamination data in one database.

Remediation of the contamination at Kærgård Orchard

The Region of Southern Denmark and the Ministry of the Environment is implementing an effort towards the contamination at Kærgård Orchard (Kærgård Plantage). The first step in this effort is directed towards the contamination in and underneath pits 1 and 2. In the long run, the effort should give better prospects for dwelling on the dunes and on the beach.

The next step will include investigations in pits 3-6 and remediation of the groundwater underneath the two pits – a complicated task, which demands technology development. The work will continue for approximately the next 6 years.

Development projects

In 2008, 5.8 million DKK has been spent in the Technology Programme (Teknologipuljen) for a number of development projects. The regions also take an active part in the development and testing of new methods, processes and tools in relation to soil contamination with projects at 3.5 million DKK. The projects range from the development of new measuring methods to new remediation technologies.

The Technology Programme as well as the initiatives carried out by the regions have an important contribution in optimizing the resources spent, so that the methods and remediation technologies continuously become more cost-effective.

Recommendations of the Contaminated Sites Council

The Contaminated Sites Council finds that the Land Depreciation Programme is not meeting its objectives. The waiting list is still very long, and the waiting time is currently about 20 years. More funds for the programme should be granted, or alternatively, the programme should be fundamentally re-evaluated.

The Contaminated Sites Council finds that there is still a need to exploit the potential for minimizing remediation costs and to avoid long and expensive operating times at remediation installations. Thus, there is still a substantial need to allocate funds for the Technology Programme for Soil and Groundwater Contamination.

It is the view of the Contaminated Sites Council that work should be continued on assessing the various remediation methods, including effort monitoring and natural degradation.

The Contaminated Sites Council finds that the current report does not give an adequate account of the private effort in relation to soil contamination. Therefore, it is suggested that a separate investigation of this area is conducted, including the mapping of soil transports related to the soil contamination efforts.