Soil guideline value
Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) are figures which are used in non-statutory technical guidance for assessors carrying out risk assessments to determine whether land is considered "contaminated" under United Kingdom law, that is "land which appears to... be in such a condition, by reason of substances in, on or under the land, that (a) significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused..."
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This guidance stipulates three stages in such risk assessments:
- Preliminary qualitative assessment including development of conceptual site model
- Generic Quantitative Risk Assessment (GQRA)
- Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment (DQRA)
Soil Guideline Values are used in the second stage, GQRA, to determine whether harm caused by long-term exposure to a given soil concentration of chemicals may present an unacceptable risk to human health in some generic land-use scenario. The SGVs are therefore conservative estimates for a given scenario. Exceedance of a SGV does not confirm that there is a "significant possibility of significant harm", merely that the possibility exists and therefore more detailed, site-specific investigation of contaminants present, pathways and receptors is required.