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The text
This booklet provides an overview of 35 years of Dutch soil
policy development, beginning with a description of how it
all began: the geological and historical development of the
Netherlands. It considers questions like: Why does a portion
of the Dutch population live below sea level? And how have
the activities of the Dutch over time affected the soil
quality?
Soil legislation provides the legal framework for current
land use in the Netherlands. Amongst many more, it defines
liability and enables sustainable land management. It
relates to a large number of other legislative fields,
specifically with respect to other environmental compartments like groundwater, surface water and sediments. These
matrices are only mentioned shortly in this booklet.
In addition, a large array of technical guidelines and
approaches has been developed over the years. These
instruments play a major role in daily practice. The key
elements are introduced in this booklet.
This 2nd edition of this booklet was written for the Ministry
of Infrastructure and the Environment by Frank Lam and
Linda Maring of Deltares with a contribution of Frank
Swartjes of RIVM.
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The photos
The photos in this booklet show the Dutch in direct contact
with their soil and represent everyday activities like
agriculture, the construction of underground infrastructure,
recreation, children playing, sports, soil remediation,
building activities, the development of man-made
environment, investigation of soil quality and archaeology.
Table of contents
History of the Dutch delta
Dutch soil: types and quality
Developing a soil policy
Sketch of the legislative framework
Future developments in soil policy
Many parties involved
Decisions of the
Liability: who pays the bill?
Soil functions and ambitions
Knowing the soil quality
Water and sediments
Technical guidelines
Risk assessment
The Dutch soil quality standards
Investigating the soil quality
Solutions
Index
Dutch soil on the internet
05
11
15
21
25
29
33
37
41
45
49
53
57
61
67
71
75
79
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Estimated workload
615000
600.000
Number of sites
Since 1980, several investigations on the number of contaminated sites were undertaken in the Netherlands, but many
uncertainties remained. In 1998, the government decided on
a new thorough investigation, based on the evaluation of
environmental permits, knowledge of activities that are a
threat to soil quality, and aerial photographs. This resulted in
a number of 615,000 potentially contaminated sites in 2004,
of which a workload of 425,000 potentially seriously contaminated sites remained after first screening. Further local
site investigations had to reveal the scale of contamination
and the possible need for remediation.
After further evaluation and soil remediation, the workload
was adjusted downwards several times. In 2013 the remaining workload of potentially seriously contaminated sites was
estimated at 250,000 sites. Approximately 1,600 of these
sites need urgent remediation, because of human health
risks (9%), risks from transport of contaminants in groundwater (70%), ecological risks (8%) or combinations of those
risks (13%).
For the remaining sites of the workload, the soil contamination is expected not to represent actual risks. Therefore, sustainable land management is sufficient and remediation can
take place at a convenient moment in time, for example,
when building activities or other soil-related activities take
place. The number of remediated sites in The Netherlands
from 1980 until 2013 is approximately 30,000.
700.000
205.000
500.000
425.000
400.000
35.000
330.000
300.000
255.000
200.000
100000
250.000
4.200
0
1980
1989
1997
2004
2005
2007
2009
2013
Potentially (seriously)
contaminated
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Sketch of the
legislative framework
The previous chapter provided an overview
of the developments in Dutch soil policy
and the legislation that was derived from it.
This legislation is not autonomous; it is
embedded in more general environmental
legislation. There is also legislation for
closely related environmental compartments
like surface water, groundwater and waste.
The overarching environmental legislation is
provided in the Environmental Management
Act that first came into effect in 1993. The act
sets general regulations for water, air, soil and
waste as well as the framework for specific
legislation. Within that framework, it allows
the definition of environmental quality
demands, including the set of regulatory
values for soil and dredged sludge as
incorporated in the Soil Quality Regulation.
Due to the decentralisation, the municipalities have an important role in enforcing the
Soil Quality Decree. The government is
empowered to impose a fine or to stop
activities when the rules of the Soil Quality
Decree are violated.
Waste
legislation
Soil
legislation
Soil Protection Act
Water quality
legislation
Remediation
Cases of non-duty
Designation
Compulsory Soil
to report Soil
Competent Authorities
Investigation at
Industrial Sites Degree Remediation Decree Soil Protection Decree
Construction
products
Regulation
Landfill of
waste Directive
Water
Framework
Directive
Groundwater
Directive
Industrial
Emissions
Directive
Environmental
Liability
Directive
Water Act
European
Directives
and Regulation
Sewage sludge
Directive
2018
Uniform
Remediation
Decree
Soil Clean-up
Uniform
Assessment
Remediation
Regulation 2006 Regulation
Financial Provisions
Soil Remediation
Decree
Registration Limitations
(Soil Protection Act)
Regulation
Soil Remediation
Circular 2009
Discharge
(Soil Protection)
Decree
Household Water
Discharge Decree
Landfill
Infiltration
Exemptions Decree
(Soil Protection) (Soil Protection) for Landfilling outside
Decree
Decree
Installations
Soil Quality
Regulation
Quality
Assurance
Building
materials
Soil and
Dredged
sludge
Overview of current Dutch soil legislation, together with related European Directives
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Future developments
in soil policy
At the moment the Dutch environmental
regulation and legislation is being transformed with the objective to facilitate
spatial development by simplifying and
combining many existing acts and decrees.
As a consequence most of the
Environmental Management Act (in total 15
existing laws) will be integrated in the
Environment and Planning Act.
Expectations are that the Environment and
Planning Act will be empowered in 2018.
Currently, the major responsibility for soil is
being decentralised. With a covenant
(2010-2015) between the state government,
provinces, municipalities and water
authorities, ambitions were formulated
concerning remediation and sustainable
use of the subsurface. Arrangements were
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Decisions of the
competent authority
The competent authority plays a vital formal
role in the appraisal and remediation of
contaminated sites. The Soil Protection Act
designated the larger Dutch municipalities
and the provinces as competent authority.
At the various stages of dealing with a
contaminated site, a formalised process will
lead to a formal decision of the competent
authority.
Depending on the complexity of the local
situation, two different processes exist.
In a complex situation, both the Main
Investigation (see the chapter Investigating
the soil quality) as well as the development
of a Remediation Plan starts with a formal
notification to the competent authority.
Based on this, the competent authority will
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Number of sites
per municipality
1
10
50
100
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Technical guidelines
In the past, prior to the Soil Quality Decree,
the aims for the soil were pretty much
defined by the national government. Since
the early 1980s, the predominantly
pioneering nature of soil remediation
business has changed into a professional
sector. With the development of the Soil
Quality Decree this professionalism has
been acknowledged. The main responsibility for maintaining soil quality shifted from
national government to the municipal
authorities. At the same time, the development and maintenance of technical
guidelines are now primarily a responsibility of the organisations that actually use
these technical guidelines. As such, the role
of the consultants who operate in this field
has become more dominant.
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Risk assessment
Human exposure modelling is the basis of
human health risk assessment in many
countries. Two human exposure models
have been developed in the Netherlands.
The CSOIL model determines exposure to
contaminated terrestrial soils, while the
SEDISOIL model determines exposure to
contaminated sediments. These models
recognise three elements:
contaminant distribution over the soil or
sediment phases;
contaminant transfer from (the different
phases of ) the soil and sediment into
so-called contact media;
direct and indirect exposure to humans.
A human exposure calculation combined
with toxicological reference values results in
the risk characterisation, that is, the risk
2%
8%
9%
8%
2
1%
SOIL AIR
concentration
Transfer processes
PORE WATER
concentration
transport to
SURFACE SOIL
transport to
GROUNDWATER
dilution in
INDOOR and
OUTDOOR AIR
transport to
DRINKING WATER
uptake by /
deposition on
VEGETATION
permeation into
DRINKING WATER
70%
Direct exposure
ingestion, inhalation
dermal uptake SOIL
Indirect exposure
intake DRINKING
WATER, dermal
contact, inhalation
SHOWERING
inhalation, dermal
uptake AIR
consumption of
VEGETATION
chemistry
risk
toxicity
ecology
The TRIAD approach for scientifically based and efficient site-specific ecological risk assessment
Into Dutch Soils | 59
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en
erv
I nt
I nd
ust
ry
ce
de
n
Re
si
tio
nv
alu
e
val
ue
Ba
ckg
rou
nd
Site remediation
Contaminant concentration
Residential areas
Industrial areas
Remediation
Substance 1)
barium3
cadmium
cobalt
copper
mercury
lead
molybdenum
nickel
zinc
sum-PCBs
sum-PAHs
mineral oil
Background value
0.6
15
40
0.15
50
1.5
35
140
0.02
1.5
190
Maximum value
for residential
land use
1.2
35
54
0.83
210
88
39
200
0.04
6.8
190
Maximum value
function class
Industry
4.3
190
190
4.8
530
190
100
720
0.5
40
500
Intervention value 2)
- 3)
13
190
190
36 / 4 4)
530
190
100
720
1
40
5000
Soil quality standards expressed for the standard soil in mg/kg dry matter for the standard set of substances.
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Preliminary Investigation
yes
contamination
suspected?
potentially
contaminated
no
probably
uncontaminated
assessment of
information
site investigation
required?
no
yes
Exploratory Investigation
no
suspected
contamination
verified?
yes
different
contamination
found?
indication
uncontaminated
additional
investigation
required?
yes
no
yes
Main Investigation
additional
investigation
consultation about
the desired
information quality
is information
adequate?
no
yes
report
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Solutions
Nowadays a wide variety of remediation
methods is available and applied. The
common characteristic of these methods is
that they aim to limit human and ecosystem
exposure risks as well as prohibit (further)
migration of the contaminants. This implies
that the local situation, the future use of the
site and the contamination itself, together
will determine what kind of remediation is
possible.
Remediation is a broadly defined term in the
Netherlands. It does not imply per se the
removal of the contamination. An accepted
remediation method, for example, is the
geohydrological isolation of the source of the
contamination. Another example of
remediation where the contamination is not
removed is to isolate the contaminated soil
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Index
A
A, B and C values
10, 16, 61
Accreditation
22,53
Accreditation scheme
22,53
Agriculture
11, 41, 42
Appeal
33, 34
Asbestos62
Assessment
54, 57, 58
B
Background concentration
Background value
Barium
Boulder clay
Building Materials Decree
46, 61
46, 61
47, 63
11
17, 22
C
Cadmium
CEN/TC 345
47, 63
54
Certification
22, 53, 54
Certification scheme
22, 53, 54
Clay
05, 11, 63, 64
Clean soil
71
Coastal area
05, 07
Cobalt
47, 63
Communication29
Competent authority
29, 30, 33, 34, 41
Competitive market
16
Conceptual model
67
Construction products
22
Construction Products Directive
22
Consultancy firm
29, 53
Consultant
29, 53
Contaminated site
24, 33, 57, 67
Contaminated soil
22, 58, 71
Contamination
15, 16, 19, 67, 68
Contractor29
Copper
47, 63
Cost-effective
Covenant
Criterion
CSOIL
16, 68
25, 26
16, 17, 62
57, 58, 59
D
Delta
05, 06, 50
Delta Works
06
Depletion41
Deterioration
41, 72
Dig and dump
16
Dikes
05, 06
Dredged sludge
17, 21
Drinking water
41, 49
Dune
06, 11
E
Ecological property
41
Ecosystem58
Into Dutch Soils | 75
Enforcer21
Environment
12, 68, 69, 71
Environmental impact
22, 71
Environmental laboratory
29
Environmental Management Act
21, 22
Environmental policy plan
15, 16
Environment and Planning act
23, 25
Erosion41
European legislation
22
Eutrophication49
Evaluation report
30, 33
Exceeding61
Exploratory investigation
67, 68, 69
Exposure
57, 58, 62
Exposure level
62
Exposure model
57, 58, 62
F
Farmland05
Flood
05, 06
Formal decision
29, 33, 34
Funding
15, 22, 37
G
Government
Groundwater
Guideline
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H
Heavy metals
49
Heterogeneous
67, 68
Historical information
67
Holocene05
Homogeneous67
Human exposure modeling
57
Human health
49, 57, 58, 59, 61
Legislative framework
21
Legislation
12, 16, 17, 21
Legislator53
Lekkerkerk12
Liability
15, 37
Local authority
41
Local circumstances
16
Local pollution
12
I
Ice age
05, 06, 07
Immobile contaminant
16, 57
Indoor air
57, 58
Industrial revolution
11
Industry
22, 29, 42
Ingestion
49, 57
Inhabitants
05, 06, 08
Inhalation
57, 62
Interim Soil Remediation Act
12, 15, 16
Intervention value
16, 61, 62, 69
Investigation
29, 67, 68, 69
ISO
54, 69
M
Main Investigation
29, 33, 61, 62, 68, 69
Marine clay
11
Mercury
47, 63
Meuse
05, 07
Migration71
Mineral oil
47, 49, 63
Molybdenum
47, 63
Moorlands05
Multifunctional soil
15
Municipal authorities
45, 53
Municipality
21, 41, 47
L
Laboratory
Landfill
Landfill Directive
Land use
Lead
16, 29
21, 22, 29
22
25, 41, 46, 62
47, 63
N
National Environmental Policy Plan 15, 16
New soil contamination
15
Nickel
47, 63
Nitrification49
North Sea
05, 06, 07, 11
Notification33
Nutrients49
O
Organic matter
Organic substances
Owner
47, 63, 64
62
29, 67, 72
P
PAH
47, 49, 62, 63
Pathway62
PCB
47, 63
Peat
05, 06, 11, 64
Permit
21, 34
Physical property
41
Polder
06, 50
Polluted site
15, 16, 29, 46
Polluter pays principle
15, 37
Post-remediation care
30, 33, 71, 72
Post-remediation care programme
33
Preliminary investigation
67, 68, 69
Property transaction
67
Protocol
22, 53, 58, 62, 69
Province
21, 33, 41, 42
Q
Quality assurance
R
Redevelopment
08, 17, 38
Reference value
12, 57
Regulator53
Regulatory value
17, 21
Remediation
15, 16, 22, 25, 37, 71
Remediation costs
37, 67
Remediation Plan
29, 33, 71
Remediation method
29, 68, 71
Residents29
Reuse
15, 17, 38, 42, 46
Rhine
05, 07
Risk
16, 57, 58, 59
Risk assessment
57, 58, 59
Risk Toolbox
58
River
05, 06, 08, 11
River clay
11
S
Salinisation41
Sand
05, 11, 49, 64
Sanscrit58
Saturated zone
49
Sea level
05, 06, 07
Sediment
42, 49, 50, 57, 58
SEDISOIL
57, 58
Serious risk
15, 38
Serious soil pollution
15, 16, 69
Simplified procedure
33, 34
Site
15, 29, 30, 67, 68
Skin contact
49
Surface water
21, 49, 50
Sustainable land management 17, 38, 45, 71
Swamp
05, 11
T
Target value
Technical guideline
Top soil
61, 62
53
46, 62, 64
U
Uncontaminated site
45
Unpolluted soils
16
Urbanised
08, 12
Urgent16
V
VOLASOIL58
Volume criterion
62
W
Waste
06, 21, 23
Water authority
41, 42
Water Framework Directive
23
Windmill06
Z
Zinc
Zone
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47, 63
45, 46
Colophon
Photography
Yvonne Brandwijk
Plaatwerk Fotografen
RIVM
Into Dutch Soils | 79
Published by
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For more information go to
www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/en
November 2014 | wvl1114vh2374