Priority assessment of heavily polluted areas in Serbia; a practical approach

1. Priority assessment of heavily polluted areas in Serbia; a practical approach R. Dijcker1, M. van der Wijk1, B. Blem2, J. Ignjatovic3, A. Popovic3, R. Zanetti1 1 Witteveen+Bos Consulting Engineers, The Netherlands 2 NIRAS A/S, Denmark 3 Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)

2. Outline • Part A: A system for identification and ranking of polluted sites was developed – to prepare remediation action plans for heavily polluted sites in Serbia • Part B: Relevance for finding practical solutions for key environmental issues, River Basin Management (RBM) Preparation of risk based and cost-effective remediation plans

3. Introduction (1) • Currently, Serbia is working on: • improving environmental protection • and water quality • protection of water resources • aligning its procedures with the EU • In Serbia and its riversheds many polluted sites are present • These site are potential threat to soil, surface water and groundwater resources • Remediation of these polluted sites is needed

4. Introduction (2) • In Serbia national inventories are under development related to; • pollution sources • accidental risk spots • contaminated sites • Goal: To improve the conditions for remediation of polluted sites in Serbia • Results of this project provided an approach for the entire process from identification of potentially polluted sites to the preparation of remediation plans

5. A stepwise approach

6. Phase 1: Identification of sites • Identification methods: long-list of 386 sites

7. Phase 2: Pre-assessment • Multi criteria analyses (MCA) was applied for ranking the long-list

8. Phase 3/4: Re-assessment • Site investigations of 10 pre-selected sites • Development of additional ranking criteria (MCA) • cost level and effectiveness remediation • possibility of implementing the remediation • Detailed environmental impact assessment (Top-3) • baseline study • site conceptual model • Tier II risk assessment • Risk based and cost-effective remediation plans

9. Part B: Tool for River Basin Management (Dutch case) • The Dutch ‘Room for the River’ Programme recognised that insight in presence of polluted sites is needed • optimise the measures • estimate total (remedial) costs • A quick scan was performed: • GIS-database of national inventories • expert-judgement; estimate remedial costs • A GIS-database of polluted sites showed to be a promising tool for (spatial) planning and cost-effective execution of protection measures

10. A practical approach for identification and ranking of polluted sites was developed and successfully applied: Long-list of 386 potentially polluted sites Preparation of risk based and cost-effective remediation plans The project showed that an initial assessment, based on limited input data and professional judgement, can provide within a short time frame a reliable assessment and ranking of polluted sites Conclusions

11. The developed identification and ranking system has proven to have potential as a tool to support the decision-making process: meet environmental goals prepare environmental protection and remediation plans and programmes estimate budgets optimise spatial planning Conclusions

12. Thank you for your attention!! For further contact: R. Dijcker, Witteveen+Bos: R.Dijcker@witteveenbos.nl M. van der Wijk, Witteveen+Bos: m.vdwijk@witteveenbos.nl J. Ignjatovic: jignjatovic@rec.org, A. Popovic, REC: apopovic@rec.org