Environmental sensivity assessment of retail filling stations in selected European countries

Report no. 1/11: The environmental sensitivity of approximately 86,000 retail filling stations in 13 European countries has been assessed with regard to groundwater, surface water and ecological receptors using a source-pathway-receptor and Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology. The information is stored in a CONCAWE database.

Across all thirteen countries the results demonstrate that, based on their location alone (i.e. irrespective of containment engineering standards which can reduce environmental risk), the percentage of retail filling stations with the potential to pose a risk to the receptors in question is small: 5% with respect to potable water (groundwater and surface water) abstractions, 8% with respect to the ecology of surface water bodies and 3% with respect to designated Natura 2000 sites (protected habitats and ecosystems).

Information in the database can be used to: