site assessment for land contamination, decision support tools for risk management, remediation of contaminated soils, sediments, and groundwater, Brownfields 
Contaminated land, Contaminated land overview Contaminated land, funding Groundwater protection, Groundwater protection overview 
         

Annual budget: €2.2Mio, financed by general states budget.   
   
A major challenge in dealing with contaminated media is in understanding the nature and fate of contamination within the subsurface, determining the significance 
of risks and implementing remedial measures that are cost effective and sustainable. The Agency needs to understand, influence and promote the development 
and good practice of innovative remedial technologies, and the effectiveness of other more traditional approaches.   
   
The Agency’s Land Contamination work programme is split into 4 thematic areas:   
   
1.	Site assessment and risk assessment for land contamination   
   
To identify and characterise risks to human health and other receptors from land contamination, we need more better approaches for characterising contaminant 
source areas, and understanding the fate and transport of contaminants through the subsurface. Priorities include:   
-	Understanding and evaluating cost effective approaches for characterising source terms   
-	Understanding the migration and transport of gases and volatile organic vapours in the subsurface   
-	Understanding the effectiveness and applicability of analytical field test kits   
-	Understand the role of soils as a sink for contamination   
-	Design of cost effective data collection and management systems   
-	Managing uncertainties in datasets   
-	Understanding tolerance of ecosystems to land contamination   
   
2.	Decision support tools for risk management   
   
Development of a decision support tool to aid staff in evaluating suitable remediation strategies, taking into account the nature of contamination, operating 
windows of available treatments, technical effectiveness, durability, sustainability and timescale.   
   
3.	Remediation of contaminated soils, sediments, and groundwater   
   
The agency needs to understand and promote cost effective, sustainable remediation strategies. Priority science areas include:   
-	Establishing the scientific basis for effective implementation & verification of a range of innovative remedial treatments   
-	Providing scientific evidence to understand the design and durability of cover systems and other containment methods.   
-	Understand the fate and transport of treatment reagents in the subsurface during in situ remediation   
-	Assess the effectiveness of phytoremediation hydraulic barriers   
-	Understand contaminant fluxes from source area to plumes   
-	Provide evidence to verify remedial treatments   
   
4.	Treatment of mine waters and mining waste   
   
Pollution from abandoned mines can be challenging to mitigate because of the large contaminant flux and timescale for treatment (decades rather than years). 
Priority science areas include:   
-	effective implementation and regulation of innovative treatment approaches   
-	new approaches to managing treatment residues   
-	improved understanding of contaminant mass balance through treatment to enable development of monitoring and maintenance strategies