Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Groundwater Risk Assessment at Contaminated Sites (GRACOS) and Integrated Soil and Water Protection (SOWA)

Abstract

The background given for the 2nd International Workshop on Groundwater Risk Assessment at Contaminated Sites and Integrated Soil and Water Protection is:

- contaminated sites - large-scale diffuse pollution of soils from disposal of non-regulated waste on land, agricultural activities, atmospheric deposition of pollutants, etc.

A major risk at most contaminated sites is that of groundwater pollution by organic and inorganic compounds. Since complete restoration of all these contaminated sites is economically and often technically not feasible, advanced procedures and guidelines of groundwater risk assessment are needed as innovative tool for the ranking of sites, decision making on further use, and remediation standards. The first part of the workshop focuses on the discussion of these new, innovative procedures for groundwater risk assessment at contaminated sites. Diffuse pollution can affect large bodies of water where restoration is hardly reversible within reasonable periods of time. The second part of the workshop focuses thus on the protection of soil as the most active resource in the hydro- and biosphere and as the essential environmental compartment for food production and finally human health. Soil has to be recognised as key zone between the land surface and groundwater.