Introduction to Contaminated Site Management - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 70

or service, from the time that the product or service comes into existence until the
product is deposed of or the service is ended. For products, this usually relates to the
overall environmental impacts of the product in all stages, that is, the raw material
production, manufacturing, distribution, use in practice and disposal. In all these
stages there is a possibility that soils are impacted. This impact relates to contam-
inants from the product under investigation, but also from other products that are
needed for manufacturing (e.g., degreasing liquids), and that are released during dis-
tribution (e.g., from fuels during road transport) or during use (e.g., from detergents
during use). In a Life Cycle Inventory the pathways of the contaminants, includ-
ing the immissions to the soil compartment, are investigated. Finally, the impact is
investigated in the Life Cycle Assessment, which overlaps with risk-based soil qual-
ity assessment. Risk Assessment could be an important process, and is in fact one
of the steps of the more integral approach of Life Cycle Assessment.
Life Cycle Assessment can also support the selection of Risk Management
solutions. Suèr et al. ( 2004 ), for example, described nine case studies in which
Life Cycle Assessment was used to evaluate alternative remediation technolo-
gies. As criteria they use the spatial scale that is affected by the remediation,
the time scale at which positive and negative effects reveal themselves and sec-
ondary processes such as the production of tubing, electricity use, materials used
for treatment of contaminated groundwater, the production of iron fillings for reac-
tive walls, and of active carbon, nitrate, and hydrogen peroxide for bioremediation
purposes.
1.8.7 Technical Approaches
1.8.7.1 Risk Assessment Methodologies
During the last few years, many easily accessible Risk Assessment methodologies
have become available. These methodologies often concern spreadsheet-like models
in a Windows environment. Many of these models are readily available, for exam-
ple, on the Internet. The huge advantage of this is that the Risk Assessment process
has gained in popularity and is followed more often, which generally improves the
procedure on contaminated site management. However, there also is a serious dis-
advantage, since engineers can use these models without much knowledge of Risk
Assessment. It is important to realize that these models may not be used as black
box models. Even more disturbing is the fact that these procedures, though in fact
any Risk Assessment methodology, are easy to manipulate according to the wishes
of a specific stakeholder. Therefore, any Risk Assessment needs to be accompanied
by some kind of certification process. Usually regulators are primarily responsible
for the objectivity and quality control of the Risk Assessment.
Another matter of concern is that individuals who are not expert often believe in
models that they do not understand. Ironically, it sometimes happens that laymen
trust models more when they appear to be more complex. It is the responsibility of
the risk assessor and the regulators to provide transparency in the possibilities and
the limitations of Risk Assessment methodologies.