Vulnerabilities

Landslides and flash floods already cause more and more damages to infrastructure and settlements (1)…. Growing demand on land increases the competition for the very limited resource (2). Areas at higher risk of flooding and landslides are now used for housing and infrastructure.

Vulnerabilities - Flood risk landfill sites

Maintenance and decomposition for landfill life cycles are assessed for 200–500 years depending on waste composition, climatic conditions and applied assessment methodologies (3). Consequently, even sites with flood protection levels up to a 100-year flood, for example provided by dykes, are highly likely to be inundated before hazardous materials are decomposed. It has to be assumed that inundated landfills become water-saturated, which leads to a substantial mobilisation of pollutants, as the presence of water enhances decomposition and transport processes (4). In addition, water saturation of landfills may lead to mechanical stability losses (5). As landfill sites are predominately located in lowland areas close to residential areas, a permanent risk potential for humans (adverse health effects) and the environment has to be expected resulting from flooded landfills (6).

References

The references below are cited in full in a separate map 'References'. Please click here if you are looking for the full references for Austria.

1. Bader and Kunz (1998); Steininger and Weck-Hannemann (2002), both in: European Environment Agency (EEA) (2005)
2. UBA (2004), in: European Environment Agency (EEA) (2005)
3. Ehrig and Krümpelbeck (2001); Stegmann and Heyer (1995); Belevi and Baccini (1989), all in: Neuhold (2013)
4. Christensen et al. (1996); Bogner and Spokas (1993); Klink and Ham (1982), all in: Neuhold (2013)
5. Blight and Fourie (2005), in: Neuhold (2013)
6. Laner et al. (2009); Neuhold and Nachtnebel (2010), both in: Neuhold (2013)
7. Neuhold (2013)
8. AFEA (2008a), in: Neuhold (2013)
9. Laner et al. (2009), in: Neuhold (2013)