Chlorinated solvents are amongst the most common soil and groundwater contaminants due to their widespread use as solvents and degreasing agents. Because of their physicochemical properties, they produce large-plumes of pollution in the groundwater. This type of pollution is often caused by small scale activities as dry-cleaners, garages and printers. In the densely populated Northwest Europe, the pollution is often situated under residential areas and therefore with difficulty accessible.

Remediation of this type of pollution is a slow and difficult process. In many cases, the costs exceed the financial strength of the polluter. Moreover, often the polluters are difficult to trace or can not be held liable due to the mixing of pollution from different sources.

The main issues of this type of pollution are:

• direct risks by exposure to contaminants (indoor air and groundwater quality);
• the indirect restraining of redevelopment of areas;
• the harming of the quality of life due to the slow processes of investigation and remediation and the resulting long period of uncertainty.

It is clear that apart from the environmental consequences, these pollutions also have a socio-economic impact for the parties involved and their environment. Extensive research is already done to possible technical solutions, but the urban environment requires a more specific approach. There is a need for an integrated approach of this type of pollution. The new research project will not only bring together technical knowledge, but will elaborate directives on how should be coped with organizational and socio-economic aspects and community involvement. This has to lead to a more efficient and faster tackling of this often-occuring type of pollution.

Transnational co-operation
The densely populated areas of Northwest Europe face similar difficulties with the presence of chlorinated solvent pollution. So far, regions have developed their own - partial -  solutions.

A transnational cooperation will bring together different viewpoints, experiences, tools and keys for solutions. This will allow a more efficient study, development, pilot-implementation and dissemination for implementation of innovative solutions. The combined efforts will help to match economic and technical administrative aspects.

Moreover it facilitates the implementation of the Groundwater Directive and supports European harmonisation. It avoids that differences arise between regions. This is relevant as the service providing sector is acting more and more on international scale.

The project will be realized by a partnership between Flemish, Dutch, French and German authorities, research insitutes and cities. Besides these partners, professional federations, experts and remediation funds are involved as observers in the project.

Objectives and implementation
The project aims at contributing to the minimisation of soil and groundwater pollution. Main objective is to develop an “integrated approach for contaminated site management”. This is meant to be a holistic risk management approach for chlorinated solvents in an urban environment, facilitating brownfield redevelopment and matching the needs of sustainable urban development. It comprises aspects of environmental technology, risk assessment and communication, urban planning and economic aspects. It will facilitate a paradigm shift from traditional “single-case treatment” to the consideration of larger areas, thus integrating in spatial dimension and in transdisciplinary sense. This will contribute to the further development and increasing effectiveness of national action plans and funding programmes for the abatement of groundwater pollution and contaminated sites.

More specific, work packages are dedicated to the following objectives:

• support the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive: testing, verification and development of best practises for monitoring and characterization technologies to meet the requirements set by the “prevent and limit” objective for industrial pollution at local and regional level (work package 2);
• remove barriers for market acceptance of innovative in-situ remediation technologies: demonstration and validation sites for innovative technologies based on pilot projects in partner cities (work package 3)
• significant reduction of remediation costs for society: improving technologies, exploring cost-benefit potentials of integrated approaches, considering alternative financing concepts and technical innovations will lead to a reduction of costs (work package 4);
• facilitate urban development and brownfield redevelopment: establising of routine procedures to manage risks in urban development and tools for community involvement to increase correct perception of risks related to pollution (work package 4).

European support
CityChlor is carried out under the INTERREG IV B  programme for Northwest Europe. This programme supports projects that strengthen the competitivity of the region and simultaneously contributes to a evenly-spread and sustainable development. The total budget amounts to 5,2 M€ of which 50% is funded by the ERDF.