POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article
Front. Water
Sec. Water and Built Environment
Bioremediation of CVOC contamination in the subsurface of Utrecht the Netherlands and interaction with Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) to protect drinking water sources
Provisionally accepted
- 1Bioclear earth, Groningen, Netherlands
- 2Provincie Drenthe, Assen, Netherlands
- 3Stadswende, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Groundwater contamination by high density and mobile chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOC) can lead to obstruction of all kind of societal developments, like the redevelopment of urban contaminated areas. Here, an integrated combination of technologies is presented in which the relatively new sustainable energy technology of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is combined with in situ bioremediation (ISB) into RemediaTES (WKO-plus in Dutch). Laboratory studies as well as pilot studies at the municipality Utrecht, the Netherlands, are combined to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed combination of technologies. From the results it could be derived that a general applicable area-oriented strategy that focusses on prevention of CVOC transport to the receptor is most cost effective in the long term. This combination of the technologies Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) and in situ bioremediation (ISB) has the potential to become a breakthrough in the redevelopment of contaminated sites and stimulus in the transition towards sustainable cities.
Keywords: Acute Boundary Control, Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES), area redevelopment, bioremediation, CVOC contamination, Enduring Area Treatment, Protection Drinking water Sources
Received: 19 Dec 2025; Accepted: 03 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 van Ras, Henssen and Grotenhuis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Niels van Ras
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