Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
23.3.1 Generation 1: Command and Control Regulations
by National Authorities
The early policies that arose around 1980 in a number of countries were a response
to the discovery of a few severe contaminated site incidents that seem to require
drastic approaches - at least that was the political and public perception in those
days. This called for systematic inventories of contaminated sites, and sites were
classified and prioritized using simple numerical criteria (concentrations) for con-
taminants in soil. Every site -small or large- was subject to the same assessment
protocol, leading to relatively high costs for investigations of small sites, and incom-
plete information for large complex sites. Priority was based on the amount of
contamination present at the site. The use of Risk Assessment was rather limited,
because experience was lacking. Moreover the public did not trust Risk Assessment,
which looked like a trick to allow contamination to remain in place. Solutions
were either complete removal (dig and dump; pump and treat) of contamination
or encapsulation. The regulations used to put these approaches into practice were
simple top-down command and control regulations. These are very effective for
those sites where human health or ecological risks are that serious that relatively
fast action was required, irrespective of spatial planning or of other socio-economic
considerations.
Due to the systematic inventories, many contaminated sites were identified that
did not need immediate remediation, but that would require remediation if land use
is changed into a more sensitive one. In those cases it is more appropriate to set
priorities with regard to spatial planning rather then based on the degree of con-
tamination. As the real “panic sites” were remediated or at least addressed, and
many less urgent contaminated sites were identified, the public perception changed.
Contaminated sites were no longer perceived as severe incidents requiring drastic
governmental operations, but as a fact of life, especially in urban areas. The need
for remediation and the priorities became more dependent on local special planning
and a national policy giving priority to environmental impacts was generally felt as
hampering spatial planning and socio-economic development. A policy change was
needed.
23.3.2 Generation 2: Flexibility in National Regulations, Room
for Local Site Specific Decisions
National policies were made more flexible as a response to the needs mentioned
above. Spatial planning priorities were recognized. The room for site-specific risk-
based fitness-for-use solutions increased. The closer link between contaminated site
policies and spatial planning provided opportunities to use redevelopment as a driv-
ing force for improving soils and the built environment in general. Redevelopment
of Brownfields (land previously used, for example for industrial purposes, which
may be affected by contamination) and urban revitalisation initiatives led to the
development of many new approaches. These approaches are more complex, but
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