CL:AIRE is delighted to inform you of our dedicated Definition of Waste: Development Industry Code of Practice (CoP) web pages, which host the newly created ‘Register of Evidence’. This Register is available as a simple on-line proforma designed to record practitioners use, or intended use, of the CoP, and includes questions to record the environmental benefits of using the CoP.

Voluntary completion of the register will aid in updating the CoP and potentially extending its scope to include fixed Soil Treatment Facilities and the Direct Transfer of excavated materials from site to site, which do not need any form of treatment. CL:AIRE hopes that this voluntary register will be well used and allow us to periodically update the industry on how it is being responsibly used.

Screening criteria such as Soil Guideline Values (SGV) are a useful tool when assessing risks to human health from land contamination. They can vastly simplify the risk assessment process by screening out individual contaminants or even entire sites from more complex detailed quantitative risk assessment. This short update documents the news subsequent to the Environment Agency’s release of the new CLEA methodology in August 2008, including initiatives from other UK expert practitioner groups seeking to expedite greater confidence and consistency in UK soil screening values.

CL:AIRE is pleased to announce a new Technology Demonstration Project TDP28, titled: In situ heating using radiofrequency (RF) coupled with soil vapour extraction/high vacuum dual phase extraction for the remediation of contaminated soil in the unsaturated zone.

This project was undertaken by Ecologia Environmental Solutions Ltd in 2008 at a former Total UK service station near Manston Airport, Kent. Following full decommissioning, including removal of the underground fuel distribution facility, site investigations revealed the presence of low to medium molecular weight hydrocarbon contaminants typical of petrol and diesel. The contamination was found to be restricted to the unsaturated zone with the groundwater table at significant depth i.e. >40m below ground level. The underlying geology is the (unconfined) Chalk, which is typically a difficult geological stratum to clean up due to its dual porosity fractured rock system.

The Government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) formally came into being on the 1st December 2008. The HCA is the single, national housing and regeneration agency for England. The Agency brings together the development and regeneration expertise of English Partnerships, investment functions of the Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, with major delivery programmes of Communities and Local Government.

The HCA’s role is to create thriving communities and affordable homes. The Agency will operate nationally but supports the delivery of the ambitions of local partners to provide better places that offer great homes and good jobs in well-served communities where people enjoy living and can afford. On its first day of operation, the HCA outlined its commitment to address current market conditions.

The Society for Brownfield Risk Assessment (SoBRA) is being established to help support the growing number of professionals involved in the assessment of risks from contamination on Brownfield sites. This non-profit making society is aimed at individuals in both the private and public sector and will be devoted to improving technical knowledge, aiding professional development and promoting best practice.

The inaugural Society workshop will be held in Spring 2009. Further information and the Society's Charter is provided in the pdf below.

 SoBRA Charter 26.03 Kb

The organisers are conducting a simple survey to get people's views about the Society, including which topics should be discussed at the inaugural workshop. The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete and can be accessed here>>

Following this weekend’s National reporting of the untimely death of a London resident due to the inhalation of anthrax spores, Dr Russell Thomas writes for CL:AIRE’s readership about pathogens and how they sit within the UK contaminated land regime.

Pathogens are clearly identified as an issue in the planning process and under health and safety regulations, however their position under Part 2A is unclear. Whilst it may be possible to exclude pathogens from the specific scope of a Part 2A investigation, they would have to be included in the scope on the basis of health and safety.

The Environment Agency has just launched their keenly anticipated Ecological Risk Assessment Framework for Contaminants in Soil (ERA).

The ERA framework has been developed by the Environment Agency (EA) in collaboration with Defra, Natural England, Welsh Assembly Government, the Countryside Council for Wales, local authorities and industry. It aims to provide a structured approach for assessing the risks to ecology from chemical contamination in soils that is a requirement under Part 2A (Contaminated Land) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The ERA framework is a three-tiered risk process which is preceded by a site desk study. The initial desk study enables the review of information about the site (characteristics), nature of contamination and likelihood of establishing pollutant linkage(s).

Brownfield Briefing is delighted to offer CL:AIRE readers the opportunity to download an electronic version of the latest Remediation Solutions IX Guide, free of charge.

This is a Guide to Remediation in the UK which includes the following features: 

• Beyond the credit crunch
• Is the Middle East the next move?
  
• One area of the globe that is still enjoying growth
  
• Then and now in the Middle East
  
• When the cleaners need a clean-up
  
• Typical problems that occur at dry-cleaning sites, and some solutions
  
• Geoelectrical imaging promises advances in remediation monitoring
  
• Which sites can take haz-waste?

For more information and to order the free electronic copy, visit the link here>>

You will also be entitled to a no-obligation free trial to Brownfield Briefing.