Ecotoxicological evaluation of soil quality criteria

✍ Scribed by Nico M. van Straalen; Carl A.J. Denneman

• Book ID: 119079696
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 822 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0147-6513
• DOI: 10.1016/0147-6513(89)90018-3

✦ Synopsis

To implement the Soil Protection Act of 1986, the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning, and Environment has recently proposed a list of soil quality reference values. These values are, as yet, insufficiently based on ecotoxicological evidence. In this paper, a three-step procedure of risk assessment for soil contaminants is proposed. Arguing from experimental results concerning no observed effect concentrations for a set of selected soil organisms, the method aims at protecting a certain fraction of soil life, taking factors such as soil organic matter and clay content into account. When applied to cadmium, a concentration protecting 95% of soil invertebrates is estimated as 0.16 pg./g for a standard soil. The value of 0.8 j&g, as proposed by the Dutch authorities, may, given the present variation and uncertainty of toxicity data, protect about 85% of the soil invertebrate fauna. It is concluded that even low levels of cadmium in soil may endanger the fUnCtiOUing Of SOme 8enSitiVe SOlI aUiIU~ species.