Contaminated land is a problem both in the short and long term as it cannot be used without remediation. The investigation and analysis of the problem, along with the legal responsibilities surrounding the issues, continue to present difficulties to those wishing to use or develop a contaminated site. Since publication of the 1st edition, the area has developed rapidly. Building on the success of the first edition, the new edition has been fully updated to take account of advances in the field.

Contaminated land is a problem both in the short and long term as it cannot be used without remediation. The investigation and analysis of the problem, along with the legal responsibilities surrounding the issues, continue to present difficulties to those wishing to use or develop a contaminated site. Since publication of the 1st edition, the area has developed rapidly. Building on the success of the first edition, the new edition has been fully updated to take account of advances in the field.

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Chemically contaminated land has only recently been recognized as an immediate or long-term potential hazard, and published guidance on how to tackle such land has been sparse. Indeed much of the available technical work emphasizes the risks and dangers, rather than indicating safe and economical strategies of reclamation. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the important aspects of land reclamation. Its basic aim is to dispel the myths that have become associated with the subject and to indicate methods and strategies that can be used for safe and economical reclamation. The authors concentrate on the more important facets of reclamation and indicate where advice and information is more or less certain. As in any newly developed field there are still uncertainties and, for this reason, not all the chapters contain equivalent amounts of detail. All the authors have expertise in the field of land reclamation, and differences in emphasis between authors reflect the present state of the subject. Overall, the book emphasizes that contaminated land can be reclaimed safely provided that sufficient attention is paid to detail and that the proposed end use of the land is appropriate and based on a detailed knowledge of the site.

Former industrial and urban land is increasingly being recycled, a practice which follows current political policy and is appropriate in the more heavily populated areas of Europe. The contamination which soils and water below such land may have suffered due to past industrial activities could pose future risks to new occupiers, or to the environment as a whole, and therefore it is important that an assessment of the risk is undertaken before such land is re-used. This volume has been written specifically to assist developers, consultants and planners who are involved in the reclamation of contaminated land in ensuring that such recycling does not expose the public or the wider environment to unacceptable risks. It provides a clear rationale for why such risk assessments are needed, outlines the current legislation regulating such activities, and indicates where the responsibilities lie for control of this development. Inevitably, the assessment approach of this book draws mainly on UK experiences and regulations but the methodology and basic principles provided are universal, and would be applicable when the safe recycling of contaminated land becomes a more important issue of development in other countries. The risk assessment approach advocated in the book will be valuable to many developers of contaminated land, since it is affordable and logical, and adequately diagnostic to identify sites where re-use will not be hazardous. The book describes a comprehensive range of risks which have been given due consideration as potential problems when former industrial land is reused, whilst also dispelling many of the vague and often unjustified concerns over land contamination.