European Union Contaminated Sites

Until recently, most studies performed within the Ebro River have been site-specific or focused on a single chemical family [20-24]. However, little is known about the concentration and patterns of a wide spectrum of priority contaminants in the whole Ebro aquatic ecosystem. The inclusion of the Ebro river basin into the European Union (EU) project AquaTerra (contract no. 505428) led to a more complete study concerning the entire river basin, various environmental matrices (sediments and two fish species) and five different chemical families... 

International harmonization of soil quality standards (SQSs) has been discussed in the CARACAS (Concerted Action on Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites in the European Union, 1995 to 1998) and CLARINET (Contaminated Land Rehabilitation Network for Environmental Technologies, 1998 to 2001) concerted actions (Vegter et al. 2003), and a form of the Soil Framework Directive is still under review by member states in the European Union, so the present guidance is both timely and relevant. 

Sixteen PAHs are on the lists of priority pollutants of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union (Lehto et al., 2003) mixtures containing more than 50 individual PAHs have been found in sediments at hazardous waste sites (Brenner et al., 2002). Low-molecular-weight PAHs, with two or three rings, are the most volatile and usually the most abundant. High-molecular-weight PAHs, with four or more rings, are less volatile. The PAHs in contaminated soils and... 

Umweltbundesamt (1998) Final report on risk assessment models and risk management for contaminated sites, Concerted Action on Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites in the European Union (CARACAS), Berlin. 

European Union Directive 98/83 underlines the importance of determining the quality of drinking water in order to protect human health. In particular, a number of chemical compounds are listed, such as benzene, 1,2-dichloroethane, tetrachloroeth-ylene, chloroform, and trihalomethanes, whose concentration in drinking water must be kept under well-defined thresholds. In Italy, laws DL 31/01, DM 152/99, and DM 471/99 set the norms for the concentrations of these, and of many other compounds in drinking water, wastewater, and contaminated sites, respectively. 

The Landfill Tax was introduced in the UK in 1996 to try to reduce the amoimt of waste being sent to landfill. All waste placed in a landfill is subject to the tax unless specifically exempt. For example soil being removed from redevelopment sites because it is contaminated is exempt. The Special Waste Regulations 1996 updated the definition of special waste (hazardous waste) to conform to European Union legislation. 

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