Laura López explains the details of the Andalusian guidelines on contaminated soils

LITOCLEAN’s Environmental Technician was present at the presentation of the documents.

On January 23, the new guidelines on contaminated soils of the Junta de Andalucía were presented and the event was attended by Laura López, Environmental Technician of LITOCLEAN, to point out all the recommendations to be followed in soil investigation projects.

There are three guides: one dealing with the classification of potentially contaminated soils according to risk, another on soil investigation and a third on risk assessment for human health in contaminated areas. Laura López explains the highlights of each of them.

  • DRSC-01 Potential risk assessment engine: this document specifies the steps to follow to register in the inventory of potentially contaminated soils. “They have developed an application called INSUPO in which all the data of the facility would be included and which will have a final score that will mean that the site is in the low, medium or high level group,” López points out.
  • DRSC-02 Characterization guide: the most relevant part of this guide refers to the Free Phase and the need to remove it, as Laura López explains: “You can choose between two ways, proceed to its removal, even if the established NGRs are not exceeded once detected, or perform a RCA to assess the risk levels and develop a voluntary remediation project in which the first objective will be to eliminate it”. This second document also talks about the constructive characteristics that the piezometers must have, despite the fact that “it was one of the points on which allegations were presented”, says López, “they still consider that the standards established in the guide must be followed and the whole section of the installed piezometric pipe must not be slotted, except for the first blind meter, either for later remediation use or for other uses such as vapor sampling”.
  • DRSC-03 risk assessment guide: the last of the guides deals with the lines to be followed to assess the risk to human health and ecosystems of a contaminated site, from the initial approach, through the calculation formulas to the interpretation of results or the final uncertainty analysis.

Laura López recalls that the application of these guidelines “is not compulsory, but it is advisable” and she values that “they aim to maintain constant communication with all the agents involved for future improvements and any doubts that may arise”.