Detailed mapping of soil contamination and remediation projects

In the Albisgüetli in Zurich Wiedikon, various shooting ranges with a total of over 300 targets and a hunting range have been in operation for over 100 years. As a result of the many years of shooting, enormous amounts of pollutants have accumulated in the soil. The Office for Waste, Water, Energy and Air (AWEL) classified these contaminated sites as requiring remediation and requested the City of Zurich to initiate the necessary measures. As a first step, detailed mapping of the pollutant contamination in the soil was carried out for all shooting ranges covering a total area of around 65,000 m2. Based on the contamination data, risk assessments were carried out for all six shooting ranges and corresponding remediation projects were drawn up. The cost of remediating the contaminated sites is expected to be around CHF 20 million.