Huub Rijnaarts

Dr. ir Huub Rijnaarts has obtained a PhD in Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University the Netherlands, in 1994. From the beginning a US relationship has been established in his research activities. For example, Prof. Ed Bouwer of John Hopkins University was on the committee for which he defended his thesis. Since 10 years Dr. Rijnaarts has been employed at TNO, The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. Currently he has a position at the TNO Insitute of Built Environment and Geosciences as leader of the Soil Quality Management team. He also chairs the Research Centre on Soil and Sediment Quality Management, a co-operation between TNO and Wageningen University. From this position he coordinated the WELCOME project dealing with
management of soil and water quality at contaminated megasites. The WELCOME project was carried out from 2001 - 2004 and was funded by the European Commission and stakeholders, in cluding the Port of Rotterdam. The Rotterdam Harbour Area was one of the case studies of the project. At this symposium Dr. Rijnaarts will present the main results of that project.

In the WELCOME-project (2002-2004) groundwater, surface water and soil contamination on large (former) industrial sites have been addressed. The extent of contamination at these so-called mega sites is so large and complex that they require an integrated cost-effective approach. The project was funded by the European Union and the project team consisted of 13 cooperating partners from four different EU member states and from different backgrounds, namely end-users from the case studies part of the project, research-institutes, universities, and consultants. In addition, input from an international group of end-users with delegates form industry and regulating bodies was achieved by four different interactive sessions along the project duration. The aim of this was to get project results with high scientific quality as well as with practical utility (See website: http//www.EUwelcome.nl/). The goal of the WELCOME project was to mak! e an Integrated Management Strategy (IMS)
for Prevention and Reduction of risks to water resources at
Contaminated Industrial Mega sites in line with EU water framework and groundwater directives. In this presentation the application of IMS in the Rotterdam Harbour Region will be discussed.