Andalucian Regional Government approves three handbooks about the investigation and evaluation of contaminated soils

The Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Sustainable Development approved a handbook about the potentially contaminated soils according to a risk score, another one about the soil investigation and a third one about the evaluation of risk to human health in contaminated areas.

This handbooks aim to act as a vademecum for the entities that perform investigation works as much as for the administration organs that have jurisdiction on this matter. The objective is to promote good practices of all relevant actors involved within this field.

The first of the manuals establishes the criteria for the classification of contaminated soil, that are based in the score given by a software tool (score engine) according to the contamination risk of the soil. This score is calculated from the information provided by people and companies that perform potentially contaminated activities

The second handbook details the steps of a soil investigation, from the sampling to the installation of piezometers, sampling conservation, equipment control, analytical testing, etc. until the evaluation of the conformity of the results in relation to the current regulation.

The last one collects the guidelines to be followed to evaluate the risk for the human health and the environments of a contaminated terrain, from the initial approach, through the calculation formula until the interpretation of the results and the final uncertainty analysis.