A Study on Location-Based Priority of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation

Chia-Nung Li,Tsung-Yu Lai,Wei-Chiang Su,Tsu-Kuang Hsieh,Chien-Wen Lo

doi:10.3390/su8040377

Abstract

Under the circumstances of limited government funds, the future pollution remediation policies and practical implementation may need contemplation from the perspective of maximized efficacy, in order to pursue the most effective resource allocation. In fact, different pollution sources and types affect the value of surrounding properties differently in significance and scope. Therefore, benefits from the remediation may vary depending on the polluted locations. Currently, however, decision-making on the location-based priority of pollution remediation still seems to be in need of a clear index system to evaluate the post-remediation benefits. Therefore, this article discusses the use of the fuzzy Delphi method to determine factors of the location-based priority of soil and groundwater pollution remediation and an analytic network process to determine the weights of each factor. The empirical results show that the top 3 priority indicators are resident population, land value and natural resources. Hopefully, this finding can be used in future decision-making on the priority of pollution remediation to maximize the effect of limited funds.

Highlights

Soil and groundwater pollution affect the normal usage of the land site, and may bring in negative impacts on the surrounding environment, for example, health hazards through diets, drinking water and direct contact; the generated stench and dirtiness that sabotage the quality of the living environment; reduced agricultural plantation and growth; restricted land use and development that diminish the property values, and neighborhoods that suffer reduced property values due to the external health risk in the surrounding area
Take the indicators compiled from the above relevant literature for the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) screening, with specific quantification considered, to build the location-based priority index system, and use the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to evaluate the weights of the indicators and determine the indicators’ applicability importance
We do not need to request experts repeatedly to revise their opinions through the FDM method, but the ANP method allows the decision makers to be confused with respect to the pairwise comparison and they need to spend more time thinking, so the follow-up studies should simplify the questionnaire design

Summary

Introduction

Soil and groundwater pollution affect the normal usage of the land site, and may bring in negative impacts on the surrounding environment, for example, health hazards through diets, drinking water and direct contact; the generated stench and dirtiness that sabotage the quality of the living environment; reduced agricultural plantation and growth; restricted land use and development that diminish the property values, and neighborhoods that suffer reduced property values due to the external health risk in the surrounding area. It is worth mentioning that water and land pollution is closely related; the water footprint includes “blue water”, a measure of the consumptive use of blue water resources; “green water”, the relevant consumption of green water resources (rainwater stored in the soil as soil moisture); and “gray water”, defined as the volume of freshwater that is required to assimilate the load of pollutants given the existing ambient water quality standards [1,2,3] This is helpful for us to know the impact of groundwater and soil remediation. Based on the concept of sustainability, pollution remediation uses technologies of elimination, destroying and suppression to lower the risk of environmental hazards, in attempts to recover the original quality of the living environment around the polluted land and fulfill the goal of urban redevelopment, and this is the background of the rise of brownfield redevelopment

Methods

Results

Conclusion