Author(s)

L. Recatalá, C. Micó, J. Sánchez & R. Boluda

Abstract

Approaches for characterising contaminated sites: an analysis considering the role of soil L. Recatala', C. Micd', J. Sanchez' & R. Boluda* i i Land Use Planning Department, Soil Degradation and Conservation Department, CIDE-Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificacion (CSIC, Universitat de Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana), Spain. Abstract Two approaches have been basically developed to characterise contaminated sites: (i) soil quality standards and (ii) risk assessment. Some European countries proposed soil quality standards to characterise contaminated sites for a given soil use (e.g. United Kingdom) or even for a multipurpose soil use (e.g. The Netherlands). Other countries (e.g. USA, Denmark) preferred to use risk assessment for characterising contaminated sites. However, the combination of soil quality standards with risk assessments can be a more reasonable approach (e.g. Germany; and Basque Country, Catalonia in Spain). This can reall

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