ARAGORN: Achieving Remediation And GOverning Restoration of contaminated soils Now

Soil contamination is a severe hazard to humans and the environment. The framework of ARAGORN is grounded in scientific progress and adapted to fully support public and private land managers.

About the project

Soil contamination is a severe hazard to humans and the environment. The framework of ARAGORN is grounded in scientific progress and adapted to fully support public and private land managers to take effective actions to protect, remediate and restore the environment on Europe’s polluted soils. ARAGORN will provide better insights into contaminated sites and improve remediation and restoration decision-making by implementing robust mapping and monitoring tools that are fit-for-purpose and covers a wide range of contaminants.

Project information

Primary investigator (PI)

Project period

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More about the project

Mission

ARAGORNs mission is to facilitate decisions by European landowners to protect, remediate and restore the health of polluted soils, biodiversity on it and ecosystem services such as water.  Four groups of persistent pollutants (PFAS, organochlorine and bromine compounds, petroleum/coal pollutants and metals) will be in the focus, due to their long term risks and costs.  The ultimate aim is to reduce the claim for land, by providing tools that can help private and public landowners to decide when it makes sense to clean up various types of polluted soils vs. not to clean it up, due to risks of regrettable pollution.

Decision frameworks will be made, that will include information and tools such as mapping of potentially and known polluted sites, chemical and biological analyses, remediation techniques, modelling, nature-based solutions to restore the health of soil and nature/biodiversity across different climatic zones, risk and cost estimates, indicators, and co-creation processes with local communities across Europe.  Both the tools and the frameworks will be transferred to commercial companies and to local authorities, with the aim to enable balanced decisions on how to best reuse the soil in a safe manner for instance for food production, housing, recreation and biodiversity/nature on it.  

In this way ARAGORNs mission is to support the implementation of the European Green Deals multiple aims, related to health soils (SoilMission), farming (FarmToFork), Biodiversity (Biodiversity Strategy), a Circular Economy and reduced pollution (Zero Pollution Ambition and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability).

Work packages

ARAGORN is structured in five work-packages (WP1-WP5) that generates content such as data, modelling, maps, risk and socio-economic assessments, processes, knowledge overview and decision frameworks.  Horizontal coordination across WP1-WP5 will take place though the Action Teams for groups of persistent contaminants. The five WPs are supported by three cross-cutting work-packages (WP6-WP8) on dissemination/exploitation/communication, project and data management, and ethics requirements. Coordination with external partners will take place through WP6.

WP1: Mapping, assessment, planning and action strategies.

Work Package Lead: Martin Scheringer (ETHZ)

  • Maps of polluting activities for site history.
  • Spatial and financial planning tools.
  • Advance risk- and socioeconomic assessments for decision making for PFAS, OCB, PETCO, and metal contaminated
    sites.

WP2: Monitoring and Sampling strategies. 

Work Package Lead: Hans Christian Bruun Hansen (UCPH)

  • Review and improve representative sampling strategies for different polluted sites.
  • Implement and improve targeted, non-target and group-method screenings for persistent contaminants, combined with chemometrics to assist identification of contaminant sources.
  • Provide State-of-the-Art analyses/modelling and demonstrate their applicability for T'1-2-3 sites to identify their sources and environmental transport and for input to risk assessment.

WP3: Remediation Strategies. 

Work Package Lead: Mari Løseth (NGI)

  • Obtain an overview of the TRL of different remediation technologies in Europe and their current status of
    implementation, limitations, and potential for the four groups of contaminants.
  • Develop the frameworks R1 (reduce bioavailability and emissions) and R2 (sustainable remediation), that identifies
    the best performing, most sustainable remediation strategies that avoids regrettable remediation.
  • Implement R1 and R2 frameworks to case study sites at the T’1 and T’2 level.

WP4: Resilience and nature-based restoration strategies.

Work Package Lead: Marco Uzielli (UNIFI)

  • Develop a 3-tiered knowledge-based platform for assessing the resilience of remediated sites, comprising a conceptual
    resilience framework (R3) and guidelines as well as qualitative and quantitative methods, indicators, and software tools
    to model the post-remediation resilience of soils to climate change and other processes brought by bio-based and naturebased restoration actions.
  • Validate and demonstrate the practical applicability of R3 by evaluating sites where restoration has occurred on sites
    remediated recently and less recently by assessing key indicators identified from reference sites or models.

WP5: Co-creation, guidance and decision-making strategies. 

Work Package Lead: Peter Bondgaard Mortensen (Eurofins)

  • Develop and deliver synthesis guidance documents for private and public land managers to prioritise, plan and invest
    in remediating land contaminated with PFAS, OCBs, PETCO compounds and metals, each with a focus on how to reach
    remediation goals in the most cost-effective and sustainable way to avoid regrettable remediation.

WP6: Dissemination, exploitation and communication.

Work Package Lead: Chiara Fonio (ICONS)

  • Raise awareness and understanding of multiple audiences to support a move towards reclamation of contaminated soil.
  • Synthesise key results and recommendations for target groups and the general public to deliver actionable knowledge
    from the remediation and restoration strategies developed and results of the project.
  • Ensure the sustainability of project results through the development of a post-project exploitation plan.
  • Measure the effectiveness of the CDE strategy through dedicated outreach and engagement KPIs.

WP7: Project and Data Management. 

Work Package Lead: Xenia Trier (UCPH)

  • Ensure that project tasks, milestones and deliverables are achieved on time and in line with the budget.
  • Submit periodic technical and financial reports.
  • Secure efficient communication within the consortium and with the European Commission.
  • Observe any potential compliance or conflict issues and mitigate them immediately and accordingly

WP8: Ethics requirements.

Work Package Lead: Marco Uzielli (UNIFI)

  • The objective is to ensure compliance with the 'ethics requirements' set out in this work package.

Organisation

Core team:

  • Xenia Trier (UCPH, PC)
  • Majbrit Dela Cruz (UCPH, PM)
  • Astrid Hasselbalch (UCPH, EU contact point)
  • Hans Peter Arp (NGI)
  • Mari Løseth (NGI)