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Soil cleanup progress in the Netherlands, 2000-2002

The total number of completed cleanup operations has fallen compared to 2001. The number of soil investigations and cleanup operations by private organisations fell in 2002 and the number conducted by the government has increased slightly.

 Government Cleanup Operations Cleanup operations by organisations themselves
 200020012002 200020012002
        
 number of sites     
Exploratory investigations1156795829 -1)-1)-1)
Further investigations:185242259 1 4031 3251018
Urgent cleanup689299 694932647
Completed cleanup716878 1 0881 029650
        
  hectares     
Cleaned-up area (> intervention value) 2) 591726 1858487
  million m3     
Cleaned-up groundwater volume (> intervention value) 2)0.50.61.1 1.12.11.4
        
Source: VROM/RIVM, 2003.    RIVM/EDC/Aug03
1) Not recorded.
2) Partly estimated.
A note on the concepts used in the table can be found in 'Soil quality and soil cleanup: terms and definitions'.

Fall in total number of cleanup operations (table)


The number of completed cleanup operations was lower in 2002 than in previous years. The cleaned-up area and groundwater volume have, however, remained approximately the same because the sites involved have been larger. The number of soil investigations and cleanup operations by private organisations has fallen and the number conducted by the government has increased slightly. This is opposed to the trend desired by the government.
The number of cleanup operations by private organisations themselves fell in 2002 compared to 2001 as the SUBAT covenant (Stichting Uitvoering Bodemsanering en Amovering Tankstations) came to an end and as a result of a reduction in construction activities. The fall can also be attributed in part to an administrative backlog. In the case of large cleanup operations, the link with the data about activities in the year in question is less clear. The picture above is based on the sites where cleanup operations were fully completed in the year in question, and for which approved cleanup evaluations were also carried out. Small cleanup operations are completed within one year, but larger cleanup operations can last five to ten years and also be completed in technical terms long before the approval of the evaluation.

Use of soil cleanup variants (graph)


Most cleanup operations (54%) tackle both the topsoil and the subsoil. Sometimes, they tackle only the topsoil (28%) or the subsoil (18%).
During cleanup operations dealing with the topsoil, the pollution is completely removed in 55% of the cases (multifunctional cleanup operations). Other topsoil cleanup operations are function-based.
At small sites, multifunctional cleanup is preferable because this means that the problem will be dealt with permanently and that the costs will be limited. Function-based cleanup is allowed since the introduction of the new soil cleanup policy (BEVER). Cleanup operations are adapted to the function of the site, but the drawback is the possible requirement for new investigations when there is a change of function. The aim here is to reduce the cost of soil cleanup operations.
During cleanup operations dealing with the subsoil, a stable situation is achieved in 83% of cases. In the other cases, follow-up operations are necessary and half of them need 'isolation with after-care ad perpetuam'. This variant is only used if other methods are not possible or extremely expensive. Follow-up operations are not included in the monitoring system.

References


Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium


Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium
This page was last changed on November 18, 2005  (version 01).