I agree entirely with Paul Nathaniel that life is going to get even more
interesting following this announcement.
Some Local Authorities that I have spoken with have stated that they
intended using ICRCL until the end of the year and gradually introduce SGV
and site specific CLEA modelled sites gradually. Some LA's are of course
further down this path than others. It would be very interesting to hear the
views of Local Authority Officers on this list as to how they view this
'sudden' change. Will some LA's change their previous strategy and withdraw
ICRCL immediately or will others continue to use until able to use an
alternative?
For what it is worth, my own view was that DEFRA would probably introduce
more SGV and TOX reports (scheduled for March 2003) before phasing out
ICRCL. Current Site Investigations may well have approached interpretation
of contaminant levels for Clients with no current SGV value by using ICRCL
(and some might continue to do so until appropriate 'replacement' SGV values
have been published). After all the Kelly Tables (GLC, 1978) were presumed
dead after the first and second editions of ICRCL were introduced many years
ago (1983 & 1987).
This is an extremely important topic for this list to discuss as many
Developers and Property Owners are affected, not just the specialists
dealing with the interpretation side of life.
Regards,
Paul
Dr. Paul H. McMahon, Director (Earth Sciences)
On behalf of RoC Consulting
81 - 83 Chapel Street
Manchester M3 5DF
Tel: 0161 839 2233
Fax: 0161 839 2244
[log in to unmask]
http://www.rocconsulting.com
On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 09:10:13 +0000, Paul Nathanail
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>DEFRA have formally withdrawn ICRCL 59/83 (2nd edition).
>
>And life has suddenly become even more interesting for everyone.
>
>This extract from Brownfield Briefing gives a bit more detail:
>
>"DEFRA withdraws health guidance
>
>DEFRA has formally withdrawn its 1987 guidance on health effects of
contaminated land - including the "trigger values" rendered obsolete by the
Part IIA regime - following the implementation of the CLEA package last
year.
>
>Steven Griffiths of DEFRA's Contaminated Land Branch has written to a wide
range of representative organisations and local authorities to warn them of
the move. He says the ICRCL Guidance Note 59/83 (2nd edition) is now
formally withdrawn, although it will remain available from the Department on
request to enable understanding of historical decisions on remediation of
individual sites.
>
>"The CLEA package, consisting of the main contaminated land reports (CLRs)
7-10, the CLEA 2002 software and the soil guideline values for individual
substances (SGV), are now considered to represent the key instruments for
generic assessment of the human health risks from land contamination," says
Mr Griffiths. "They represent a cross-government consensus on the technical
approach to undertaking such assessments and are based on the latest
scientific knowledge and thinking."
>
>He says the trigger values contained in ICRCL 59/83 were a useful tool but
are technically out of date. They are out of line with Part IIA, especially
for assessing the "possibility of significant harm" to health. SGVs cover a
broadly similar, and widening, range of contaminants."
>
>
>
>Dr Paul Nathanail
>Head, Land Quality Management Group
>School of Chemical Environmental and Mining Engineering
>University of Nottingham
>Nottingham NG7 2RD
>t 0115 951 4099
>f 0115 951 4640
>www.nottingham.ac.uk/scheme
>www.lqm.co.uk
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