mobility and availability of contaminants, risk assessment, models for contaminants transport, development of new soil treatment technologies, brownfield 
sustainable management, Brownfields Contaminated land, Contaminated land overview Contaminated land, funding Groundwater protection, Groundwater 
protection overview 
         

The French state and local authorities from the Lorraine region financed this programme, that carries out research in the field described below. The work itself 
of the GISFI consortium can be seen as transversal interdisciplinary project.    
   
The GISFI - French Scientific Interest Group - Industrial Wasteland develops synergy between different skills, based around a scientific and technological 
project dedicated to acquisition of knowledge for sustainable requalification of degraded sites polluted by past industrial activities.      
      
The issue of requalification of degraded industrial sites is related to major industrial changes in recent years (in Lorraine these especially concern 
steel and coal activities, textiles, small industries, etc.). In addition to their economic consequences, these changes have resulted in the creation of 
thousands of hectares of industrial wasteland, the renovation of which almost always involves highly complex pollution problems.    
   
The degraded zones, which include mining, industrial, railway, military and urban sites, represent considerable areas in Europe (over 6,000 ha in Lorraine, 
for example).    
      
The GISFI is a consortium of 11 public research laboratories in Lorraine associated with the INPL, UHP, Nancy II and Metz Universities, INRA, CNRS, INSERM 
and BRGM.    
   
Its members come from a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from geosciences to human sciences. They have joined forces for a transversal interdisciplinary 
project contributing to the resolution of pollution-related issues.    
   
This group has been joined by two private laboratories, a scientific archaeological association and institutional partners (EPFL*, DRIRE) and the steel 
industry (Bail-Industrie), together with the GELFI network. The GISFI has been selected within the framework of the State-Region Plan Contract for the ' After 
the Mine Closures ' aspect.   
      
The aim of the project is to understand the mechanisms that control the dynamics of pollution in soils, taking into account the multiplicity of pollutants, 
their ageing and the highly heterogeneous nature of degraded sites. It will lead to modelling flows of pollutants in soils, in order to characterise their bioavailability 
and their impact on organisms and, in the plan applied, to promoting the development of innovative treatment technologies as part of a strategy for requalification 
of industrial wasteland. Work will take place in industrial wasteland in Lorraine, focusing on site work thanks to the creation of an experimental station 
equipped with instruments for tracking the evolution and impact of pollution.