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Publishing Organisation
Environment Agency, Rio House, Waterside Drive, Aztec West, Almondsbury, BRISTOL, BS32 4UD.
Tel: 01454 624400

Fax: 01454 624409

Website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Environment Agency 2002

March 2002

ISBN 1 857 05755 X

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
without the prior permission of the Environment Agency.
The views expressed in this document are not necessarily those of the Environment Agency or DEFRA.
Its officers, servants or agents accept no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage arising from the
interpretation or use of the information, or reliance upon views contained herein.
Dissemination Status
Internal:
Released to Regions
External:
Released to Public Domain
Statement of Use
This publication sets out the derivation of the Soil Guideline Values for arsenic contamination. The report
has been written for technical professionals who are familiar with the assessment and management of the
risks posed by land contamination to human health. It is expected to be of use to all parties involved with
or interested in contamination, but in particular to those concerned with the assessment of land
contamination.
Keywords
Soil Guideline Values, arsenic, land contamination, priority contaminants, risk assessment.
Environment Agency Contact
Ian Martin, Exposure Assessment Manager, Olton Court, 10 Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, B92 7HX

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Acknowledgement
The CLEA model was developed between 1992 and 1997 by the late Professor Colin Ferguson at the
Centre for Research into the Built Environment, the Nottingham Trent University. The Environment
Agencys National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre, National Centre for Risk Analysis and
Options Appraisal and Land Quality Management Ltd have prepared this report.

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Contents
1

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1

DEVELOPING SOIL GUIDELINE VALUES FOR ARSENIC ......................................... 3

Occurrence in soil....................................................................................................................... 3
Behaviour in the soil environment..............................................................................................3
Potential for harm to human health and relevant health criteria values for soil.......................... 4

SOIL GUIDELINE VALUES FOR ARSENIC..................................................................... 6

Purpose....................................................................................................................................... 6
Soil Guideline Values according to land-use.............................................................................. 7
Further information for assessors applying these Soil Guideline Values.................................... 8
Comparison with other approaches .......................................................................................... 10

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................... 13

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Assessment of risk to human health from land contamination. Key reports from
DEFRA and the Environment Agency. ................................................................................. 2
Table 2.1 Index Doses derived from oral and inhalation studies.......................................................... .5
Table 3.1 A brief description of the standard land-uses for Soil Guideline Values............................... 7
Table 3.2 Soil Guideline Values for arsenic as a function of land-use .................................................. 8
Table 3.3 Contribution to total exposure from soil for the relevant pathways expressed as a
percentage of the mean exposure calculated by the CLEA model......................................... 9

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1.1

This report is one of a series of documents issued by the Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA), its predecessor departments, and more recently the Environment Agency.
The main purpose of the CLR series is to provide regulators, developers, landowners and other
interested parties with relevant, appropriate, authoritative and scientifically based information and
advice on the assessment of risks arising from the presence of soil contamination.

1.2

This report describes Soil Guideline Values, generic assessment criteria for assessing the risks to
human health from chronic exposure to soil contaminated with arsenic. It is essential that the
information presented here be used in conjunction with an understanding of the main reports in this
series (see Table 1.1) and in the wider context of assessing environmental risk (DETR, Environment
Agency and IEH, 2000).

1.3

This technical material can be used in support of the application of the statutory regimes addressing
land contamination, especially Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the contaminated
land regime) and development control under the Town and Country Planning Acts. In particular,
they are intended to be regarded as relevant information, and to assist in the assessment of
relevant and available evidence, for the purposes of paragraphs A.31, B.39 and B.44B.49 of the
Part IIA statutory guidance contained in DETR Circular 02/2000 (DETR, 2000).

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Table 1.1 Assessment of risk to human health from land contamination. Key reports from DEFRA
and the Environment Agency.

CLR7 Assessment of Risks to Human Health from Land Contamination: An Overview of the Development of
Soil Guideline Values and Related Research (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002a). CLR7 serves as an
introduction to the other reports in this series. It sets out the legal framework, in particular the statutory
definition of contaminated land under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990; the
development and use of Soil Guideline Values; and references to related research.

CLR8 Priority Contaminants for the Assessment of Land (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002b). This
identifies priority contaminants (or families of contaminants), selected on the basis that they are likely to be
present on many current or former sites affected by industrial or waste management activity in the United
Kingdom in sufficient concentrations to cause harm; and that they pose a risk, to either human health,
buildings, water resources or ecosystems. It also indicates which contaminants are likely to be associated
with particular industries.

CLR9 Contaminants in Soil: Collation of Toxicological Data and Intake Values for Humans (DEFRA and
Environment Agency, 2002c). This report sets out the approach to the selection of tolerable daily intakes and
Index Doses for contaminants to support the derivation of Soil Guideline Values.

CLR10 The Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment Model (CLEA): Technical Basis and Algorithms
(DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002d). This report describes the conceptual exposure models for each
standard land-use that are used to derive the Soil Guideline Values. It sets out the technical basis for
modelling exposure and provides a comprehensive reference to all default parameters and algorithms used.

TOX 1 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002e). This report details the derivation of the oral and
inhalation Index Doses for arsenic.

This document:
SGV 1 Soil Guideline Values for Arsenic Contamination. This report presents the Soil Guideline Values for
arsenic and sets out their derivation.

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Occurrence in soil
2.1

Arsenic occurs naturally in many soils as the weathered product of mineralisation (Mitchell and
Barr, 1995). More than 200 arsenic-containing minerals have been identified, the most common of
which is arsenopyrite, a mineral often associated with sulphide mineralisation (ONeill, 1995). A
mean arsenic concentration of 10 mg kg-1 for 2691 uncontaminated soils has been reported (Berrow
and Reaves, 1984). In the south-west of England, Culbard and Johnson (1984) have reported mean
soil concentrations of 424 mg kg1 in mineralised areas and between 29 and 51 mg kg1 in the top
0.05 m of reportedly non-mineralised areas. A survey of stream sediments in England and Wales
showed elevated concentrations of arsenic (between 15 and 433 mg kg1) over much of Cornwall
and west Devon, the Northampton ironstones and the Lake District (Environment Agency, in
preparation).1

2.2

One of the principal sources of arsenic pollution has been the mining and processing of mineral ore
and gangue, predominantly as a by-product of the extraction of copper, lead, tin and silver (Mitchell
and Barr, 1995; Kavanagh et al., 1997). Atmospheric deposition from copper smelting and the
burning of fossil fuels is also an important input to the soil. Arsenical compounds have also been
used in the glass and ceramics, electronics, textile and tanning industries. In addition, contamination
has arisen from the widespread use of agrochemicals such as pesticides and wood preservatives in
agriculture (Sanock et al., 1995; ONeill, 1995). Urban surveys of soils in Wolverhampton and
Stoke reported arsenic concentrations in the range 2167 mg kg1 (Environment Agency, in
preparation).

Behaviour in the soil environment

2.3

Arsenic is found in Group VA of the Periodic Table along with nitrogen and phosphorus. Arsenic
is often described as a metalloid element, but for the purposes of describing its chemical behaviour
in soil it can be thought of as a non-metal, forming covalent compounds or being found in complex
anionic species (ONeill, 1995).

2.4

Natural sources of arsenic in soil are mainly oxysalts and sulphur-containing minerals (ONeill,
1995). Under normal oxidising conditions, the most common dissolved arsenic species is the
arsenate oxyanion, in which arsenic exists in the +5 oxidation state, As(V). Under more reducing
conditions, such as that found under conditions of waterlogging, the more stable arsenical species
is the arsenite oxyanion, in which arsenic exists in the +3 oxidation state, As(III). Haswell et al.
(1985), in a study in the south-west of England, observed that over 90% of dissolved arsenic in
aerobic soils occurred as arsenate, but that this level dropped to between 15 and 40% under
waterlogged conditions (where arsenite became the predominant dissolved species).


1

Although direct correlation between the concentration of contaminants in soils and stream sediments has not
been undertaken, the National Contamination Review of Great Britain (Appleton, 1995) concluded that elevated
stream concentrations were likely to reflect higher regional soil concentrations of contaminants.

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2.5

Whether As(V) or As(III) predominates in soil is a function not only of soil redox potential but also
of pH and microbial activity (Moore et al., 1988). A further complicating factor is the presence of
clay minerals, iron and aluminium oxides, and organic matter, which influence the solubility of
arsenic, inhibiting its leaching and slowing its rate of oxidation and reduction (ONeill, 1995).

2.6

The quantity of soluble or potentially soluble arsenic in a soil varies widely with pH, redox potential
and the presence of other components such as iron and manganese oxides, clay minerals and organic
matter content. Both arsenate and arsenite are strongly adsorbed onto iron and aluminium oxides,
clay mineral surfaces and soil organic matter. Under acidic conditions, the dissolution of iron oxides
has been observed to increase the concentration of arsenic in solution (Masscheleyn et al., 1991).

2.7

The level of arsenic in edible plants is generally reported to be low. It has been proposed by Bril and
Postma (1992) that the plant uptake of arsenic from soil can be modelled against pH, but this has
been discounted by other researchers (Merry et al., 1986; Livesey and Huang, 1981). There is a
paucity of available data on the uptake of arsenic by garden vegetables under typical soil conditions,
and therefore soil-to-plant concentration factors (CF) are based on simple interpretations of available
data. In the derivation of this set of Soil Guideline Values, a CF of 0.009 g g1 DW plant over g
g1 DW soil for arsenic has been assumed for both root and leafy vegetables (RIVM, 2001).

2.8

It is not clear to what extent organic arsenic compounds, and inorganic volatile compounds such as
arsine, are formed and released from soils. Microbial activity can cause methylation, demethylation
and hydride formation in the presence of sulphur-bearing substrates, if the redox potential is low
enough (Moore et al., 1988). A number of studies have suggested that volatile arsines are produced
from lawns and moist soils, and that arsine and methylarsines are produced from soils treated with
arsenate, arsenite, monomethylarsonate or dimethylarsinate (ONeill, 1995). However, in most
circumstances, the rates of formation and the likely concentrations of volatile compounds present
are likely to be too small for concern. Volatile arsenic compounds are therefore not considered in
the derivation of the Soil Guideline Values.

Potential for harm to human health and relevant health criteria values for soil
2.9

The principles behind the selection of health criteria values and the definition of concepts and terms
used are outlined in CLR9 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002c). Information on the toxicity
of arsenic and reasons behind the selection of the most appropriate health criteria values for the
derivation of this set of Soil Guideline Values are described in Contaminants in Soil: Collation of
Toxicological Data and Intake Values for Humans. Arsenic (DEFRA and Environment Agency,
2002e). Reference to these documents is necessary to understand the information presented below.

2.10 Skin lesions are the most sensitive indicator of systemic toxicity resulting from chronic oral exposure
to arsenic, whilst lung cancer has been associated with inhaled arsenic. Index Doses have been
derived for both the oral and inhalation routes (see Table 2.1) because inorganic arsenic compounds
are carcinogenic by both routes in humans, and are genotoxic. It is prudent to assume that there is
no threshold for these effects.
2.11 The oral Index Dose is derived from the WHO recommended provisional drinking-water guideline
value of 10 g L1, which is based on drinking-water studies in which the incidence of skin effects
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was observed to be related to arsenic intake. By assuming that 2 L day1 of water is consumed by
a 70 kg adult, this would correspond to approximately 0.3 g kg1 bw day1. This value is in general
agreement with those derived by other organisations, even though the logic behind the derivation
differs.
2.12 The basis for the inhalation Index Dose is WHOs estimate that an arsenic concentration of 6.6 ng
m3 is associated with a lifetime additional lung cancer risk of 10-5. Assuming that a 70 kg adult
inhales 20 m3 per day, this atmospheric concentration translates to an inhalation Index Dose of 1.9
ng kg1 bw day1, rounded up to 2 ng kg1 bw day1. The WHO risk estimate was based on a number
of studies that examined elevated occurrences of lung cancer in smelter workers exposed to arsenic
emissions.
2.13 The Index Dose represents an intake that poses a minimal risk level from possible exposure to a
particular substance from a source, with the additional requirement that exposure needs to be
reduced to as low a level as reasonably practicable (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002c).
Therefore, background exposure to inorganic arsenic is not considered and the Index Dose itself is
the health criteria value used to derive Soil Guideline Values.
2.14 There is some consensus that organic arsenicals are much less toxic and carcinogenic than inorganic
arsenic, but there are not sufficient data from which to derive guidelines for oral or inhalation
exposure. The health criteria values derived here are applicable only to inorganic forms of arsenic.
Table 2.1 Index Doses derived from oral and inhalation studies
Oral Index Dose
(g kg1 bw day1)

Inhalation Index Dose

(g kg1 bw day1)

0.3

0.002

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Purpose
3.1

Soil Guideline Values are a screening tool for use in the assessment of land affected by
contamination. They can be used to assess the risks posed to human health from exposure to soil
contamination in relation to land-use. They represent intervention values: indicators to an assessor
that soil concentrations above this level might present an unacceptable risk to the health of site-users
and that further investigation and/or remediation is required. Further information on applying Soil
Guideline Values in the regulatory context, including Part IIA of EPA 1990, can be found in CLR7
Assessment of Risks to Human Health from Land Contamination: An Overview of the Development
of Soil Guideline Values and Related Research (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002a).

3.2

Soil Guideline Values have been developed on the basis of many critical assumptions about possible
exposure to soil contamination and the development of conceptual exposure models to describe
different land-uses. The standard land-uses considered are described briefly in Table 3.1. It is
important that an assessor understands these conceptual models and is aware of their assumptions
and limitations before applying Soil Guideline Values to an area of land. See CLR10 The
Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA) Model: Technical Basis and Algorithms for a
detailed description of the CLEA model on which these Soil Guideline Values are based (DEFRA
and Environment Agency, 2002d).

3.3

If used correctly, an exceedance of a Soil Guideline Value can indicate a potentially significant risk
to human health. However, this does not necessarily imply that there is an actual risk to health, and
the assessor should take into account site-specific circumstances. Furthermore, if incorrectly applied
to a site where the critical pathway or chemical form of the contaminant is not one that has currently
been evaluated, a potentially significant risk might be present even though a Soil Guideline Value
is not exceeded. So it is important that a risk assessor uses Soil Guideline Values as a component
of an overall risk assessment and management strategy for a site in accordance with good practice
(DEFRA and Environment Agency, in preparation; DETR, Environment Agency and IEH, 2000)
and, in particular, an appropriate sampling and testing strategy (DEFRA and Environment Agency,
2002a).

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Table 3.1 A brief description of the standard land-uses for Soil Guideline Values
Further information on the underlying conceptual exposure models for each land-use can be found in
DEFRA and Environment Agency (2002d).
Residential
People live in a wide variety of dwellings including, for example, detached, semi-detached and terraced
property up to two storeys high. This land-use takes into account several different house designs, including
buildings based on suspended floors and ground-bearing slabs. It assumes that residents have private gardens
and/or access to community open space close to the home. Exposure has been estimated with and without a
contribution from eating homegrown vegetables, which represents the key difference in potential exposure to
contamination between those living in a house with a garden and those living in a house where no private
garden area is available.
Allotments
Provision of open space, commonly made by the local authority, for local people to grow fruit and vegetables
for their own consumption. Typically, each plot is about a one-fortieth of a hectare, with several plots to a
site. Although some allotment holders may choose to keep animals, including rabbits, hens and ducks,
potential exposure to contaminated meat and eggs has not been considered.
Commercial/industrial
There are many different kinds of workplace and work-related activities. This land-use assumes that work
takes place in a permanent single-storey building, factory, or warehouse where employees spend most time
indoors involved in office-based or relatively light physical work. This land-use is not designed to consider
those sites involving 100% hard cover (such as car parks) where the risks to the site-user are from ingestion or
skin contact because of the implausibility of such exposures arising while the constructed surface remains
intact. Further guidance on the limitations in applying this land-use to different industries can be found in
DEFRA and Environment Agency (2002d).

Soil Guideline Values according to land-use

3.4

The Soil Guideline Values for arsenic contamination are summarised in Table 3.2. For residential
and allotment land-uses the Soil Guideline Values are set to be protective of young children because
in general they are more likely to have higher exposures to soil contaminants. For the
commercial/industrial land-use, an adult is assumed to be the critical receptor, with exposure
considered over the working lifetime.

3.5

The Soil Guideline Values have been estimated using the CLEA model where certain parameters,
such as body weight, are treated probabilistically by Monte Carlo sampling. The Soil Guideline
Value is the concentration at which predicted exposure equals the relevant health criteria value for
each standard land-use. Because the final exposure is itself a distribution of values, a point in this
distribution is chosen for comparison with the relevant health criteria value. In deriving the Soil
Guideline Values in this report, the Monte Carlo components in CLEA are sampled 5000 times and
the 95th percentile of the predicted exposure compared with the health criteria value. See CLR10
for a detailed discussion (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002d). The final Soil Guideline
Values reported in Table 3.2 have been rounded to the nearest one or two significant figures.

3.6

The Soil Guideline Values for arsenic are based on inorganic forms only for two reasons:

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The Index Doses for arsenic are based only on consideration of inorganic compounds (DEFRA
and Environment Agency, 2002e).

There are differences in the fate and transport of organic and inorganic compounds of arsenic,
which means that human exposure should be considered separately.

Table 3.2 Soil Guideline Values for arsenic as a function of land-use

Standard land-use

Soil Guideline Value

(mg kg1 dry weight soil)

Residential with plant uptake

20

Residential without plant uptake

20

Allotments

20

Commercial/industrial

500

Notes
1. Based on total inorganic arsenic concentration in the soil.
2. Not applicable to arsenic present primarily in an organic form or where there is a
likelihood of arsine gas being generated.
3. Based on intake of arsenic only and compared with oral Index Dose value.
4. Based on sandy soil as defined in CLR10 (DEFRA and Environment Agency,
2002d).

3.7

The Soil Guideline Values for arsenic are based on considering oral exposure and compared with
the oral Index Dose described in paragraph 2.11. Dermal and inhalation routes have been excluded
from this comparison because for many types of arsenic contamination and in the context of the
standard land-uses the contribution of these pathways to overall exposure will be much less than
1%. To check that this assumption was valid, inhalation exposures at the Soil Guideline Value level
for each land-use were evaluated to ensure that these were always less than the inhalation Index
Dose (see paragraph 2.12).

3.8

The Soil Guideline Values are based on the sandy soil described in CLR10 and may vary according
to the other soil types outlined in that report. The availability of arsenic to plants depends on a
number of factors (see paragraphs 2.6 and 2.7) although there is insufficient information to provide
a robust correlation with specific soil parameters (such as pH, redox potential, iron and manganese
oxide content) that are broadly applicable to generating Soil Guideline Values. Therefore the Soil
Guideline Values reported here do not vary according to pH.

Further information for assessors applying these Soil Guideline Values

3.9

In applying the Soil Guideline Values in this report to a contaminated site, assessors will find the
advice presented in the following paragraphs useful. It is good practice for risk assessors to
accompany their risk assessment with an appropriate risk evaluation, including a clear statement of
whether or not representative soil concentrations from the site exceed any generic or site-specific
assessment criteria (DEFRA and Environment Agency, in preparation; DETR, Environment Agency

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and IEH, 2000). In using Soil Guideline Values it is essential that the assessor reviews the wider
context as discussed in CLR7 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002a).
3.10 The assessor is referred to TOX 1 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002e) for a detailed
explanation of the derivation of the health criteria values used in this report, and the attendant
uncertainties. This is important, especially when considering the significance of any exceedance of
a Soil Guideline Value.
Table 3.3 Contribution to total exposure from soil for the relevant pathways expressed as a
percentage of the mean exposure calculated by the CLEA model
Contribution to exposure from soil according to land-use (%)
Exposure pathway

Residential with plant

uptake and allotments

Residential without
plant uptake

Commercial
/industrial

Ingestion of soil and indoor dust

71

100

100

Consumption of homegrown
vegetables

22

Ingestion of soil attached to

vegetables

Notes
1. Soil Guideline Values derived by comparing only oral exposure routes with oral Index Dose.
2. indicates that this pathway is not included in the conceptual model for the standard land-use.

3.11 As noted in paragraph 3.7 the Soil Guideline Values presented here are based only on oral exposure.
The proportion of exposure attributable to each individual pathway for each standard land-use is
summarised in Table 3.3.
3.12 The dominant exposure pathway driving the risk in this set of Soil Guideline Values is the direct
ingestion of soil and soil-derived indoor dust (see Table 3.3). The uncertainties in modelling
exposure via this pathway are discussed in CLR10 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002d). The
consumption of homegrown vegetables contributes up to 30% of total oral exposure in the standard
residential and allotment land-uses. In applying the Soil Guideline Values that include plant uptake,
the assessor should consider the impact of soil pH on the likelihood of exposure via this pathway.
Outside of the typical pH range of 68, the bioavailability of arsenic to plants should be determined
on a site-specific basis and, where appropriate, further investigation (including the sampling of fruits
and vegetables) is recommended.
3.13 Inhalation of soil-derived dusts contributes less than 1% of total exposure for each of the standard
land uses described in Table 3.1. However, in undertaking a site assessment, the assessor should
always consider the possibility that inhalation of dust may be a more important exposure pathway;
for example, where:

the majority of the site is bare for long periods and dry/windy conditions prevail,

activities such as vehicle movements increase dust generation,

the contamination itself is present in a dry and/or dusty form.

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In such cases, the assessor should estimate the risk posed by dust inhalation by carrying out a more
detailed site-specific assessment.
3.14 The Soil Guideline Values for arsenic for both the standard residential and allotment land-uses lie
within the range of naturally occurring soil contamination in parts of the UK (see paragraph 2.1).
A key assumption that assessors should take into account in evaluating risk is that the Soil Guideline
Values are based on intakes and it is assumed that 100% of the arsenic in soil is taken up by the
systemic circulation. Where arsenic is either strongly bound to the surface of soil particles or present
in an insoluble form, then its bioavailability to the human body may be less than 100%.2 This effect
is likely to be difficult to quantify in practice and should be considered only as part of a more
detailed site investigation and risk assessment. It is not justifiable to assume that the bioavailability
of a contaminant at concentrations within the range found in natural soils for a particular region of
the UK is likely to be less than 100% without further investigation.
3.15 Guidance on using Soil Guideline Values in the presence of one or more other contaminants is given
in CLR9 (DEFRA and Environment Agency, 2002c). In general, for non-threshold substances,
chemical mixtures are only considered where effects are mediated through the same receptor or
where substances act on the same target organ or biological system. In the case of arsenic, it is worth
noting that the critical threshold and non-threshold effects are dermatological.
3.16 The Soil Guideline Values presented here apply only to the protection of health from long-term chronic
exposure to arsenic contamination. However, as noted in DEFRA and Environment Agency (2002e),
arsenic poisoning can occur as a result of very high single exposures in the range 70300 mg (the
calculated range for the acute lethal dose). Significant acute effects can also occur below the lethal
dose, including severe gastrointestinal damage and haemorrhaging with resultant vomiting and
diarrhoea. Although such levels of exposure are likely to occur rarely and only at arsenic soil
concentrations substantially above the Soil Guideline Value, an assessor dealing with small hotspots
of highly elevated concentrations of arsenic should always consider the potential for acute toxicity.

Comparison with other approaches

3.17 It is essential that any comparison between the Soil Guideline Values presented in this report and
other approaches, including quantitative criteria, should be informed by reference to the conceptual
models behind each set of guidelines and taking into account the context in which they are intended
to apply. There are a number of reasons why the generic assessment criteria developed in one
country may differ from those found in another.
3.18 It is not easy to transpose guidance from one jurisdiction to another and to make comparisons
between the various quantitative levels set. Such guideline values may have been developed in a
different management context, depending on legislation and policy, with different overall
objectives.3 There may be subtle but significant differences between the conceptual exposure
models that take into account the different ways that people behave between countries and


2

It is important to note that a reduction in apparent solubility of arsenic within a particular aqueous solution is
not necessarily reliable evidence of a reduction in its bioavailability to the human body.
3
Such objectives might include as intervention values or as remediation standards to be applied to different
current and future uses.
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differences in site conditions such as soil pH, soil type and depth to water table. The characterisation
of the critical human receptor may also be quite different, and this can have a major impact on the
guidelines derived.
3.19 The Interdepartmental Committee for the Redevelopment of Contaminated Land (ICRCL) published
trigger concentrations for arsenic (ICRCL, 1987). The threshold concentration for arsenic for
domestic gardens and allotments is 10 mg kg1 and that for parks, playing fields and open space
is 40 mg kg1. No action values were published. There is little information available about the
conceptual model implicit in these values and therefore further direct comparison with the new Soil
Guideline Values is difficult.
3.20 A comparison of the Soil Guideline Values with generic assessment criteria in other countries shows
that there is a considerable range of values. A large component of this variation appears to come
from uncertainty surrounding the toxicological database and differences in policy on exposure and
averaging periods.
3.21 The current Dutch integrated Intervention Value (IV) for arsenic and all land-uses is 55 mg kg1
(RIVM, 1994). This is based on the ecotoxicity IV since the human IV is 678 mg kg1. Pathways
included in the human IV include direct ingestion of soil, consumption of crops and inhalation of
soil-derived dust. Arsenic is considered to be a threshold contaminant and exposure is averaged over
a lifetime. Adjusting for the default soil type used in CLEA (15% clay and 2% soil organic matter)
the human health IV would reduce to approximately 350 mg kg-1, still significantly higher than the
Soil Guideline Values in this report. The Dutch health criterion value4 and their application of
lifetime averaging and exposure periods are the most significant factors in explaining the difference.
3.22 While the UK aims to be protective of sensitive groups within the UK population, the current IV
are based on the average Dutch person. If the Soil Guideline Value for the residential setting,
including plant uptake, were derived using the Dutch health criterion value, lifetime exposure and
averaging, and with the inclusion of background exposure, it would be approximately 430 mg kg-1.
3.23 It is likely that the Dutch IV will soon be changing (RIVM, 2001). The new guidelines are termed
serious risk concentration (SRC) and the proposed integrated SRC for arsenic is 85 mg kg1.
Again, this is based on considerations of ecotoxicity since the proposed human health SRC is 576
mg kg1, still significantly higher than the Soil Guideline Values in this report. However, the Dutch
still use a higher health criterion value5 and apply lifetime exposure, which are significant factors
in demonstrating this difference. Taking into account the proposed Dutch TDI and lifetime
averaging, the SGV produced by the CLEA model would rise to 200 mg kg1.
3.24 The USEPA has two Soil Screening Levels (SSL) for arsenic, one for ingestion and one for
inhalation. The ingestion SSL is 0.4 mg kg1 (USEPA, 1996). The only pathway assumed is direct
soil ingestion. The SSLs were developed to help standardise and accelerate the evaluation and
cleanup of contaminated soils at sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) with anticipated future
residential land use scenarios. The US EPA assumes that arsenic is a carcinogen, that exposure is


4

The Dutch apply a TDI of 2.1 g kg1 bw day1 for the derivation of the human health IV for arsenic.
The Dutch propose to apply a TDI value of 1 g kg1 bw day1 for the derivation of the human health SRC for
arsenic.

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for 30 years over an averaging period of 70 years, and that the acceptable risk of contracting cancer
is one in a million.

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5HIHUHQFHV
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