Overview of Soil and Groundwater Remediation

The problems of environmental damage to soil and groundwater are internationally recognized. In many countries, the management of contaminated land has matured, and it is developing in many others. Over the last twenty years, focus moved from effective contaminant removal to risk management involving more sustainable approaches based on recycling, reusing, transforming, and biodegrading. Remediation actions are implemented in four phases: option appraisal, implementation, verification and monitoring, and aftercare and stewardship. Options most suited for the site at hand must be considered among a range of approaches. Intervention can take place on excavated soil or extracted water (ex situ), or in soil and water in the subsurface (in situ). According to the main operating principle, five categories can be discerned: biological, physical, chemical, thermal treatment, or stabilization. Sustainable remediation goes beyond risk control and must consider the overall benefits and impacts of remediation. It should not only help accelerating an efficient clean-up of contaminated land, but also eliminate the potential of future land contamination.