TYPICAL PROBLEMS OF MONITORING SOIL AND GROUNDWATER Translating problems into challenges

摘要

In this paper attention is focused not just on technical problems related to monitoring of soil and groundwater. A view is also presented on the development process of innovative field screening techniques and the aspects hampering the introduction of this technology. Communication, acceptance by stakeholders, and economic aspects are important factors which require more attention. Society has, over the last two decades, been confronted with contaminated land, which has become a major environmental issue. The economic costs for the Netherlands alone are estimated to be in the range of 42 to 100 billion Dutch guilders based on today's technical approaches. Site investigation in terms of sample collection and analysis are a significant element of these costs. It can be stated that the available equipment for site investigations is incomplete and/or inadequate for meeting the increasing data requirements for soil environmental problems. On top of that, the environmental policies in the European Community evolve and from this additional needs can be identified. It is, for example, clear that the economical aspects of remediation of contaminated land and the effects on the spatial planning process lead to solutions in which land quality management and soil- and groundwater monitoring require increasing attention. In the Netherlands, again, some of the authorities find that monitoring schemes for former landfill sites show an increasing impact on their budgets. Some of them fear that up to 50% will be tight up in monitoring programmes leaving less and less finances available for actual problem solving.