Introduction to Contaminated Site Management - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 69

soil, that is, both the upper layer and the groundwater, impose limitations as well
as opportunities for functions at the soil surface. An example of these limitations
concerns the establishment of a new estate district or an industrial park on soils with
limited bearing capacity (e.g., peat soils). An example of an opportunity is the plan-
ning of a nature reserve, in combination with additional water storage possibilities
in wet agricultural areas, in case of high water recharges, in anticipation of cli-
mate change. Although humans are capable of changing the environment, including
many soil factors, in accordance with their own requirements, these examples show
that this is not always possible, or at least not without substantial additional costs.
Therefore, several soil issues, including soil quality assessment and management
must become part of any integrated spatial planning process.
Moreover, in densely populated regions in the world, sub-surface construction
works have gained in popularity. From this perspective it becomes unavoidable to
include the third (depth) dimension, i.e., the soil quality, in spatial planning.
1.8.6.3 Chemical, Physical and Biological Soil Quality Assessment
Traditionally, since contaminated sites have become a political issue, soil quality is
approached from a chemical perspective, that is, focused on contaminants in soil.
During the last few years the philosophy of considering overall soil quality, that is,
chemical, physical and biological soil quality, gained in interest. A concrete exam-
ple is the determination of so-called Soil Ambitions for local soil quality in the
Netherlands (Otte et al. 2009). These Soil Ambitions can be assessed at the level
of municipalities, with the use of a so-called Route planner. Although the chemical
component of the assessment is the most mature, physical elements (such as seal-
ing, or bearing power), or biological elements (such as Biodiversity) could also be
included in Soil Ambitions.
1.8.6.4 Environmental, Socio-Cultural and Economic Assessment
Another interesting integration is to combine risk-based soil quality assessment
with social and economic factors. In a way, economic factors always have been
included, since no Risk Management activities have had access to unlimited finan-
cial resources. Today, however, cost-efficiency has become an important element of
modern risk-based soil quality assessment. Socio/cultural factors have also implic-
itly played a role of some importance. This is reflected, for example, in the different
approach to contaminated site management in urban areas than that applied in rural
areas.
In the procedure for dealing with Brownfields, environmental, socio-cultural and
economic factors are assessed and weighed in a systematic way.
1.8.6.5 Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA; aka: Life Cycle Analyses or Life Cycle Impact assess-
ment ) is the holistic evaluation of the environmental impacts of a specific product