Hazardous waste sites: contaminants in soil, soil air and groundwater

Soil trigger values (German Soil Protection Ordinance), trigger values for groundwater contaminants

The toxicity of and exposure intensity towards hazardous substances at waste sites determine the risk. These principles also determine the derivation of trigger values in the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance (BBodSchV). FoBiG made relevant scientific contributions to the evaluation of heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons, hydrocarbons, explosive derivatives, chemical war agents and many other substances (substance list).
Human health evaluations result in the derivation of tolerable doses (TRD values, tolerable absorbed doses), which are peer-reviewed by national experts. TRD values form the basis to derive proposals for trigger values according to the method of the German Soil Protection Ordinance.  The methodology and chemical-specific results are published in loose-leaf editions (TRD values in the volume "Gefährdungsabschätzung von Umweltschadstoffen"(GvU) and trigger values in "Berechnung von Prüfwerten zur Bewertung von Altlasten", both available in German only).
Services of FoBiG:

• Risk assessment of contaminants and derivation of soil trigger values
• Derivation of trigger values for groundwater contamination, considering human health effects and risks for the aquatic environment (according to the European Commission Technical Guidance Document for risk assessment and the methodology of the German Federal/State Working Group on Water (LAWA)
• Assessment of volatile contaminants in soil, soil air and inside buildings
• Exposure assessment: exposure of humans in contact with contaminated media

For issues related to hazardous wate sites please contact:
Dr. Klaus Schneider