Assessing costs and benefits of improved soil quality management in remediation projects: A study of an urban site contaminated with PAH and metals
Journal article, 2020
Contaminants in the soil may threaten soil functions (SFs) and, in turn, hinder the delivery of ecosystem services (ES). A framework for ecological risk assessments (ERAs) within the APPLICERA - APPLICable site-specific Environmental Risk Assessment research project promotes assessments that consider other soil quality parameters than only contaminant concentrations. The developed framework is: (i) able to differentiate the effects of contamination on SFs from the effects of other soil qualities essential for soil biota; and (ii) provides a robust basis for improved soil quality management in remediation projects. This study evaluates the socio-economic consequences of remediation alternatives stemming from a Tier 1 ERA that focusses on total contaminant concentrations and soil quality standards and a detailed, site-specific Tier 3 Triad approach that is based on the APPLICERA framework. The present study demonstrates how Tier 1 and Tier 3 ERAs differ in terms of the socioeconomic consequences of their remediation actions, as well as presents a novel method for the semi-quantitative assessment of on-site ES. Although the presented Tier 3 ERA is more expensive and time-consuming than the more traditional Tier 1 ERA approach, it has the potential to lower the costs of remediation actions, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, reduce other environmental impacts, and minimise socio-economic losses. Furthermore, the remediation actions stemming from the Tier 3 ERA were predicted to exert far less negative ES effects than the actions proposed based on the results of the Tier 1 ERA. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Ecosystem services
Contaminated sites
Ecological risk assessment
Remediation
Soil quality
Cost-benefit analysis
Author
Yevheniya Volchko
Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Geology and Geotechnics
Dan Berggren Kleja
Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Par-Erik Back
Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)
Charlotta Tiberg
Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)
Anja Enell
Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)
Maria Larsson
Örebro University
Christopher M. Jones
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Astrid Taylor
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Maria Viketoft
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Annika Aberg
SWECO Environment
Anna-Karin Dahlberg
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Jana Weiss
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Karin Wiberg
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Lars Rosen
Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Geology and Geotechnics
Science of the Total Environment
0048-9697 (ISSN) 1879-1026 (eISSN)
Vol. 707 135582Subject Categories
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Other Environmental Engineering
Environmental Sciences
DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135582
PubMed
31776003