Risk assessment groundwater systems

CPE XI returned to Cairo, Egypt in 1997, and papers and posters were presented on adsorption, analytical methods, chemical/biological/treatment, groundwater studies, ion exchange, modeling, risk assessment, waste minimization and treatment, and for the first time, ISO 14001, which focuses on environmental management and quality systems. 

Technical Guidance Document and Water Framework Directive approaches EU member state, North American, and other international approaches) and the way in which they are implemented (e.g., mandatory pass or fail probabilistic, e.g., 95th percentiles or tiered risk assessment frameworks). Soil and water standards were considered, as were values for the protection of human health and the natural environment. The focus was on European regulatory frameworks, although expert input was sought from other jurisdictions internationally. Chemical standards for aquatic (water and sediment) and terrestrial (soil and groundwater) systems were the main focus for the meeting. This workshop built on, and included some participants from, a 1998 SETAC workshop Re-evaluation of the State of the Science for Water-Quality Criteria Development (Reiley et al. 2003). 

Groundwater vulnerability maps, based on a regional assessment using an index-based system, can be used as a screening tool to rapidly assess the relative scale of impacts arising from pressures. They may be useful for assessing whether ground-water bodies are at risk from pollution sources at initial characterisation. 

Speciation is a critical element needed to assess environmental risks and to predict, monitor, and control transport of actinides. Different methods can be used to determine speciation in well-controlled laboratory systems (in solution, the solid state, or at the mineral-water interface) that are similar to those in nature. The range of actinide concentration can be varied widely, allowing the use of conventional speciation techniques. However, the concentration of actinides in natural contaminated soil and groundwater is generally orders of magnitudes lower than that in sjmthe-sized samples. Advanced ultra-sensitive spectroscopic techniques are still needed to allow us to directly determine the nature of species in these samples and of actinides sorbed on mineral surfaces. 

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