CL:AIRE is delighted to welcome a new member to its Technology and Research Group (TRG).  Dr. Steve Thornton is a Reader in Environmental Engineering Science within the Groundwater Protection and Restoration Group at the University of Sheffield.  Formerly the Environment Agency Research Fellow in Natural Attenuation, he is an internationally recognised expert in this subject area.  He has over 20 years experience in contaminant hydrogeology, with particular interest in the application of natural attenuation for pollution management, monitoring techniques and performance assessment of natural attenuation at field scale and in situ / engineered bioremediation.

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ISO DIS 13859: Soil Quality - Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography has been published for public comment and is available by request from the ISO Committee who would like comments back by 16th August 2012.  Contact details for receiving a copy and feeding back comments in the prescribed template, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , secretary of BSI Committee EH4 Soil Quality. 

The Water Framework Directive’s UK Technical Advisory Group has published for consultation ‘Updated Recommendations on Environmental Standards’ for River Basin Management.  The revision covers deriving standards for specific pollutants and recommends new standards for 18 substances: benzyl butyl phthalate, carbendazim, chlorothalonil, copper, cyanide, diazinon, 3,4-dichloroaniline, 2,4-dichlorophenol, glyphosate, iron, manganese, methiocarb, pendimethalin, permethrin, tetrachloroethane (TCE), toluene, triclosan and zinc.  The consultation document is available here>> and the welcomes your comments via its website by Friday 8th June: http://www.wfduk.org/stakeholders/stakeholder-review.

On Wednesday 25 April, Waste Watch launched the UK Sustainability Network for Standardisation (UK SNS), a new UK-wide initiative funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and coordinated by Waste Watch.   The UK SNS aims to safeguard the consideration of sustainability interests in the development of British standards, a process that currently lacks systematic representation of civil society stakeholders.   For more details of the initiative and an update of the launch event please click here>>.

Defra has published the revised Statutory Guidance on the Contaminated Land Regime under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.  The revised Guidance, published on April 10th, follows on from the public consultation Defra held on changes to the Guidance from December 2010 to March 2011, and the laying of the Guidance in draft before Parliament on 7 February.  The Guidance is now in effect and should replace the version and associated annexes issued in September 2006.  You can access a copy of this Guidance at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/land.  No hard copies of this Guidance are available.

The new National Remediation Contractors Framework (NRCF) went live on the 1st March 2012. This is an Environment Agency managed framework that will make it easier for public sector bodies to access a range of experts in land remediation to help clean up contaminated sites which are causing unacceptable risks to health and the environment. The prime aim is to provide a comprehensive set of remediation skills for projects across the Country and a mechanism for streamlined and efficient procurement.

The NRCF will run for two years, with the option to extend for a further two years. Whilst it will provide a valuable resource to Agency project managers, it is also open to local authorities and other public sector organisations involved in land investigation and remediation. Further information can be found from the 'read more' tab.

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This newly available international standard provides guidance on the selection and application of screening methods for assessing soil quality. Guidance is given to choose an appropriate screening method for specific parameters and defines the conditions under which they can be used.  This international standard does not recommend any particular screening method, but confirms the principles of their application. Copies are available from BSI here>>.  This standard complements Environment Agency guidance on rapid methods of on-site analysis and BS 10175.