Decision support systems (DSSs) for contaminated land management-Gaps and challenges

Abstract

The previous chapters in Section 2 provided a plethora of information regarding decision support systems for risk-based management of contaminated land. Chapter 6 lays the foundation for Section 2 by defining terminology and discussing the broad issues of what is contaminated land in the EU and US; what is a Brownfield; and what is remediation. Chapter 6 also explains the complexity of contaminated land management and emphasizes that it is a multidimensional problem. It communicates the need for and the role of DSSs to address risk-based contaminated land management issues. Chapter 7 presents a review of existing DSSs and identifies the phases and process of contaminated site redevelopment including questions that decision makers should ask as they go through the process. Using these questions, existing DSSs are compared to identify which systems address different phases of the process. Subsequent chapters (Chapters 8-12) highlight actively-used DSSs for contaminated land management, with each chapter providing information regarding: framework and functionality; structure of the system; decision aspects and stakeholder involvement; case study application; and ongoing development if applicable. Finally, this chapter (Chapter 13) is intended to summarize identified gaps (i.e., where additional contaminated land management DSSs should be focused) and the challenges faced by anyone attempting to build and implement a DSS. This chapter takes into consideration the contents of all the other chapters of Section 2, and discusses the gaps that may characterize the presented DSSs with respect to contaminated land assessment and management objectives (Section 13.2). Moreover, some relevant challenges still open for these tools, and in general for any decision support system, are presented (Section 13.3). Discussion of gaps and challenges may help in identifying obstacles for the application of DSSs, as well as in promoting future advancements. In fact, Goosen and colleagues (2007) already discuss several reasons as to why DSSs are not being used by their intended audiences. In their paper they report an overview of some of the pitfalls for decision support development reported in the literature. The pitfalls described include: involving the users in the development of the DSS; user-friendliness/ presentation of results; simplicity/over-complexity/transparency; flexibility; and reliability and confidence. That article should be reviewed carefully before embarking on the development of additional DSSs. Some of these pitfalls apply to DSSs for contaminated land management, and in fact are discussed in the following sections. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.