Soil Directive Framework

Distribution of organic chemicals among environmental compartments can be defined in terms of simple equilibrium expressions. Partition coefficients between water and air, water and soil, and water and biota can be combined to construct model environments which can provide a framework for preliminary evaluation of expected environmental behavior. This approach is particularly useful when little data is available since partition coefficients can be estimated with reasonable accuracy from correlations between properties. In addition to identifying those environmental compartments in which a chemical is likely to reside, which can aid in directing future research, these types of models can provide a base for more elaborate kinetic models. 

One year after the proposal of the Soil Framework Directive, the European Parliament adopted its first reading. However, in 2010, a few countries impeded the continuation of the process on the basis of excessive cost, administrative burden and subsidiarity. To date, the proposal remains on the council s table [131]. 

At the member state level, some countries, such as the Netherlands, a pioneer in the protection of soil, have their own national policies and regulations for the management of contaminated soils that were adopted before the Soil Framework Directive [132], Protection guidelines vary from country to country, and specific legislation for soil contamination only exists for some member states, including the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, France, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Spain and Finland [128],... 

CEC, Commission of the European Communities (2006) Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the protection of soil and amending Directive 2004/35/EC. 2006/0086(COD). Brussels (Belgium). http //ec. europa.eu/environment/soil/pdf/com 2006 0232 en.pdf... 

Soil-sediment-groundwater-related issues, as experienced in River Basin practise, including those related to implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Groundwater Daughter Directive (GWDD)... 

EU THEMATIC STRATEGY ON SOIL PROTECTION AND THE PROJECTED SOIL FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE... 

The soil framework directive should be presented by the end of 2005. At the current time it remains uncertain which of the above soil threats will be regulated by the EU and which will be the responsibility of member States. However, the number of regulations is bound to rise. Furthermore, new measures will probably have to be paid for by private owners based on their duty of care. Only orphan sites may attract public funding. 

An EU Soil Framework Directive is presently being developed. The EU has decided to adopt a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection as part of its aim of protection and preservation of namral resources. A proposal for this is being finalized in 2006 (EC 2007b). 

A Legislative proposal for the protection of soil - A Soil Framework Directive... 

The proposed EU Soil Framework Directive will include the following main objectives ... 

Other cases concerning the direct and indirect effects of allelochemicals such as acetic acid produced during crop residue decomposition are presented in this symposium by J. M. Lynch. The emphasis of this discussion will not be a review of existing literature, but on establishing a conceptual framework for a realistic assessment of the allelopathic phenomena and the role and fate of allelochemicals in the soil. 

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). 

International harmonization of soil quality standards (SQSs) has been discussed in the CARACAS (Concerted Action on Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites in the European Union, 1995 to 1998) and CLARINET (Contaminated Land Rehabilitation Network for Environmental Technologies, 1998 to 2001) concerted actions (Vegter et al. 2003), and a form of the Soil Framework Directive is still under review by member states in the European Union, so the present guidance is both timely and relevant. 

Due to the inherent spatial and temporal variability in soils and the resulting uncertainty of generically used standards, it is recommended that there should be few situations for which SQSs are mandatory (i.e., SQSs should not have pass-or-fail criteria in isolation from other considerations). In most cases, SQSs are a first step in a tiered approach or framework for decision making (e.g., Figure 5.1). In each step of the process, the degree of uncertainty decreases, while site specificity, and hence reliability, increases. There are few situations in which SQSs are used as compliance measures, so there is no direct need for strict pass-or-fail criteria. It should be acknowledged that a tiered system nonetheless requires 1) clear criteria associated with each specific tier, which is an issue clearly associated with initial problem formulation, and 2) clear criteria on when to pass to another tier. 

Compositions of the pervasive layered deposits seen in Mars Global Surveyor imagery (Malin and Edgett, 2000) have not been measured directly. However, TES spectra, which are dominated by sand-sized particles, indicate that igneous minerals (pyroxenes and plagioclase) are abundant on the martian surface. Quartz, which should be readily detectable in TES spectra, has not been observed. Deconvolutions of the spectra of soils and dust are dominated by framework silicates, either plagioclase or zeolites (Bandfield and Smith, 2003 McSween et aL, 2003). 

By this hypothesis, Millot argued that aluminum tends to direct silica toward a two-dimensional (sheet) rather than three-dimensional (framework) structure under conditions usually prevalent in soil solutions (although this assumes that conditions are not strongly alkaline). Thus, feldspars are not known to neoform (by, say, the reverse of reaction 6.26) except perhaps under geological conditions favorable to metamorphosis. Yet thermodynamically less stable minerals such as zeolites do form under the alkaline conditions that are presumably favorable to the formation of feldspar. Zeolites are framework silicates with an arrangement of tetrahedra unlike that of feldspar, and are considered to be metastable with respect to feldspar. We find, then, that in weathering processes, the final mineral products may not be, in the thermodynamic sense, the most stable products. 

The need for a catchment-scale approach to freshwater ecosystem management is recognised by the EU Water Framework Directive, where the basic unit of management is referred to as the river basin district (European Commission, 2000). The complexity of the interactions between aquatic and terrestrial systems at the catchment scale necessitates a modelling approach also at the catchment scale. With respect to climate change, existing or new models need development to represent climate, soil, land use, lakes, rivers and coastal waters, so that the responses of whole catchment systems can be simulated and the models used to assess the impacts of alternative catchment management decisions. 

Forstner, U. (2008) Differences in policy response to similar scientific findings - examples from sediment contamination issues in River Basin Management Plans. New perspectives with sediment issues (monitoring and measures) under the European Water Framework Directive. J. Soils and Sediments, 8, pp. 214-216. 

Forstner U (2002) Sediments and the European Water Framework Directive. J Soils Sediments 2 54. 

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