Sustainable remediation: designing a decision support tool for the selection of 'gentle' remediation approaches

Abstract

A range of tools have been proposed to support decision making in contaminated land remediation (collectively referred to as Decision Support Tools or DSTs). From a European perspective it is clear, however, that there are considerable national differences in the decision support process, and more generally in the extent to which this process supports the selection of less invasive, alternative and potentially more sustainable remediation options such as phytoremediation, in situ immobilisation etc. (referred to here as “gentle” remediation technologies or options). This thesis critically reviews available DSTs in terms of their fitness for purpose for the application of “gentle” remediation technologies, using published literature and data from two stakeholder surveys: the first from a European perspective (completed in the European Union ERANET SNOWMAN project SUMATECS (Sustainable Management of Trace Element Contaminated Sites)) (sample size of 130) and the second focused on contaminated land consultants and managers in the UK (sample size of 71). In general stakeholder feedback from both surveys indicates a lack of knowledge of currently available DSTs and the requirement for a simple DST using a tiered approach that can be integrated into an existing national framework.

Date of Award	Nov 2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton