Soil guideline value

Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) are figures which are used in non-statutory technical guidance for assessors carrying out risk assessments to determine whether land is considered "contaminated" under United Kingdom law, that is "land which appears to... be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land, that (a) significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused..."^[1]

This guidance stipulates three stages in such risk assessments:

Preliminary qualitative assessment including development of conceptual site model
Generic Quantitative Risk Assessment (GQRA)
Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment (DQRA)

Soil Guideline Values are used in the second stage, GQRA, to determine whether harm caused by long-term exposure to a given soil concentration of chemicals may present an unacceptable risk to human health in some generic land-use scenario. The SGVs are therefore conservative estimates for a given scenario. Exceedance of a SGV does not confirm that there is a "significant possibility of significant harm", merely that the possibility exists and therefore more detailed, site-specific investigation of contaminants present, pathways and receptors is required.^[2]

^ Parliament of the United Kingdom (1990). "Environmental Protection Act 1990". Retrieved 10 February 2017.
^ Jeffries, J (2009). "Using Soil Guideline Values" (PDF). Retrieved 10 February 2017.

[1] Parliament of the United Kingdom (1990). "Environmental Protection Act 1990". Retrieved 10 February 2017.

[2] Jeffries, J (2009). "Using Soil Guideline Values" (PDF). Retrieved 10 February 2017.

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