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Topsoil Validation Testing Report

Envirep New Zealand House, 160 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6FD, UK t +44(0)845 606 6650 e [email protected] Registered office: New Zealand House, 160 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6FD. Registered in England and Wales, number 5475394

Mr John Smith

No.1 Architects Row

Tower Hamlet

Suffolk

RL36 8XX

Dear Mr Smith

Background

Topsoil materials have been recently imported onto the Site located at Tree Farm, Country Lane, Little Forest, RL37 8PW, in order to facilitate soft landscaping of external land areas. The Local Planning Authority has requested validation of the imported soil thickness and chemical quality to ensure that these materials are fit for purpose.

Envirep was instructed to visit the Site on 16 June 2014 to undertake the necessary soil validation testing. A total of three soil samples were recovered from the imported soils.

Consultations

Contact was made with the Local Council on 1 June 2014 in order to verify the suitability of the proposed soil validation activities. The Council indicated that the proposed approach to soil validation was acceptable.

Sampling exercise

Three hand dug pits were excavated across accessible areas of the site using a clean stainless steel spade in order to verify the thickness of topsoil and permit soil sampling. A total of three soil samples were taken from the locations described in Table 1 in accordance with current best practice (BSI, 1999; 2002).

A photographic record of the site visit is provided in Appendix A.

Laboratory testing was undertaken in order to ascertain the chemical quality of the soil samples. All analysis was performed at a UKAS accredited laboratory using MCERTS certified tests where possible. All soil samples were analysed for the following determinands:

- Range of heavy metals and metalloids (including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, copper, chromium (III and VI), vanadium and zinc)

- Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene

- Free cyanide

- Total phenols (monohydric)

- Speciated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (US EPA 16)

- Fraction organic carbon

- Gasoline Range Organics (C5 – C10)

- Diesel Range Organics (C10 – C40)

- Asbestos screen

- pH

The laboratory test data are attached to this letter (see Appendix B).

Date 04 July 2014

Ref Topsoil Validation Report

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Envirep t +44(0)845 606 6650 e [email protected]

Topsoil Validation Testing Report Ref Topsoil Validation Report Example.docx

Table 1: Summary of hand pitting and soil sampling activities

Hand pit ref End depth

(m bgl) Imported soil depth (m bgl)

Comment Soil sample ID (and depth)

HP01 0.4 0.39 Dark brown SOIL with rare fine flint gravels. Rootlets abundant. Occasional red brick, plastic and ceramic present.

HP01 (0.4 m bgl)

HP02 0.5 0.4

Dark brown SOIL with rare fine flint gravels. Rootlets abundant. Occasional red brick, plastic, wood and ceramic present.

HP02 (0.25 m bgl)

HP03 0.4 0.35

Dark brown SOIL with rare fine flint gravels. Rootlets abundant. Occasional red brick, plastic and a house brick at 0.1 mbgl.

HP03 (0.3 m bgl)

Topsoil depth validation

The Local Council requested that as part of the validation process the depth of topsoil cover was confirmed. A depth of 0.3 m was specified by the Council as appropriate for the Site.

The topsoil thicknesses encountered during Envirep’s site visit are presented in Table 1; this data suggest that an adequate thickness of imported soils is present across the targeted areas of the site.

Risk screening

A soil screening exercise was conducted by comparing maximum observed soil quality results with a set of generic human health screening values (collectively termed Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC)); these screening values represent threshold soil concentrations above which there may be an unacceptable risk to human health.

The adopted GACs, which are listed in Appendix C, have been taken from a range of published UK sources.

Given the current site setting GACs have been based on a standard residential land use (conservatively including the consumption of home grown produce), with a sandy loam soil type and a soil organic matter (SOM) content of 6%.

None of the substances tested for exceeded the adopted GAC values. As such, based on the available laboratory data, no potential contaminants of concern have been identified in the three samples of imported topsoil collected. The sampled materials are therefore considered to be fit for purpose.

There is currently no published GAC for asbestos. However, no asbestos fibres were detected in any of the soil samples.

Conclusions

On the basis of the information and data collected and presented here, Envirep can verify that at least 0.3 m of topsoil has been imported to the site, and subsequent chemical analysis and assessment of these soils has not identified any constituents that could be considered to represent a risk to human health within the context of the proposed residential land use.

Yours sincerely

Lisa Davies SENIOR LAND CONSULTANT


References

British Standard Institute, 1999. Code of Practice for Site Investigations. BS 5930:1999.

British Standard Institute, 2002. Soil quality sampling Part 1: Guidance on the design of sampling programmes. ISO 10381-1:2002.



Appendix A: Site Photographs



Photograph 1 – Site Setting

Photograph 2 – HP01



Appendix B: Laboratory Results



Appendix C: Soil Screening Values

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