Deriving Parameters for the Chemical Investigation of Hazardous Sites

Since the beginning of the treatment of hazardous sites about 10 years ago, Baden-Wurttemberg is facing an immense number of sites to be suspected contaminated. After the completion of the historical investigation, about 18.000 abandoned industrial sites will be registered. An estimated percentage of about 50% have to be technically investigated within the next years. So an efficient management of the available technical and financial resources is mandatory. In practice, it is neither possible nor advisable to measure the full number of potentially hazardous substances. Although such an endeavour would give a complete overview of the presence and the amount of contaminants, it requires unrealistic expenditures of time and money. It is therefore necessary to select those parameters for chemical analysis, which seem to be the most suitable in the respective case. This will lower costs and expedite the investigation without diminishing its evidence.