A Stakeholder’s Perspective on Contaminated Land Management - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 1065

to be present. The entire port area, the municipality of Rotterdam and the polder
areas is being considered as a megasite. Further examples are available in a NICOLE
Workshop report on megasites (NICOLE 2004 ).
The development of the Port of Rotterdam started in the 17th century and had its
main period of expansion during the 19th and 20th centuries. Currently, the indus-
trial sites in the port and surrounding area cover an area of approximately 10,500 ha,
managed by the Port of Rotterdam Authority. The area itself is in a dynamic phase.
Old port basins are being redeveloped to accommodate the urban expansion of the
city of Rotterdam and new port areas are being constructed on the seafront. Among
the main activities that take place in the Port are the trans-shipment and processing
of bulk goods such as oil, chemicals, coals and ores. As a result of these industrial
activities both soil and groundwater have become contaminated with a wide range
of contaminants, some of which reached the groundwater and, depending on the
specific geohydrological situation, might form extensive plumes.
Since the late 1980s the Port of Rotterdam policy has been to investigate and
record initial soil quality when issuing a lease contract to companies. The basic
principle is that when a company leaves the site and the lease contract is ended,
the Port of Rotterdam will accept the site back only in its original state. In prac-
tice a functional, fit for purpose, remediation is allowed. As financial security for
the allowance of residual contamination and to compensate for capital loss, an inte-
gral claim is maintained. If the company is sold to another company, the selling
company will be held liable for any remediation costs, although the selling and
buying companies may sign a mutual agreement whereby the buyer takes over the
liability.
Although some companies are eager to have their sites quickly remediated, the
Port of Rotterdam views the contamination issues in a greater context. Contaminants
seldom respect site boundaries, certainly not when the deeper aquifers are con-
taminated. As a good landlord, the Port of Rotterdam advocates a more coherent
solution, in which soil, groundwater and surface water are viewed as an integrated
system. Remediation of the subsoil remains the responsibility of the individual
companies and the contaminated groundwater is dealt with in a regional or clus-
tered approach. Currently the Port of Rotterdam is working towards an agreement
between both public and private partners to participate and share the costs for this.
The Port's ultimate goal is to manage the soil and groundwater quality in the port
area in the most optimal manner, thereby ensuring its economic activity in the
coming years.
From the point of view of the Groundwater Directive (GWD), the contaminated
groundwater beneath the Port of Rotterdam can be seen as one plume resulting from
contaminated sites and point sources. The key goals are to keep the plume from
spreading further and not to present a risk to human health and the environment.
National and local legislation has been designed to limit the risks of individual
point sources and also gives the Port of Rotterdam space and time to use Natural
Attenuation for the risk-based management of groundwater plumes. The surface
water, the Pleistocene deep aquifer and the downstream polder areas are all potential