Developing groundwater contaminant remediation strategies for seven regional aquifers

Abstract

A common challenge in many cities in Europe is endangerment of natural resources due to soil and water pollution. Despite extensive investigation and remediation measures over decades and current practices of environmental management, residues of pollutants persist in soil and groundwater, reducing the functionality of many urban areas. In complex hydrogeological systems, where contaminated plumes are overlapping and/or diffuse contamination is present, technical and administrative activities have to be thoroughly planned and executed in the long term to secure the recovery of groundwater quality. Communities need a management strategy (MS) to manage soil and groundwater contamination in urban areas, especially where contamination exceeds local scales but does not reach the national level. A MS drives administrations to understand hydrogeological system properties, define new, reachable target values and give practical guidance for the implementation of necessary measures. Implementation of a MS fosters the early involvement of key stakeholders and their contribution to the development of MS itself. The strategy has proven to be an appropriate and flexible tool for the transfer of scientific knowledge to the planning, coordination and implementation necessary for the remediation of large-scale groundwater contamination.