New Bulgarian Soil Pollution Standards

Abstract

ATANASSOV, I., 2008. New Bulgarian soil pollution standards. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 14: 68-75 Recently in Bulgaria have been adopted new quality standards for soils polluted by arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, nickel, lead, mercury, zinc and cobalt, set on the base of three level system according to precautionary, maximum permissible (trigger) and intervention concentrations. The precautionary values are derived on the base of the background concentrations of the above mentioned inorganic substances into the soils. Maximum permissible (trigger) values are derived on the base of (eco) toxicity considerations for three pathways: soil-humans (direct intake); soil-food and fodder plants and soil-groundwater. The maximum permissible values are set for four land use types: arable lands, permanent grasslands, residential areas and for lands occupied by industrial/ commercial enterprises. These values are differentiated for three soil pH (H 2 O) and for two soil textural classes: soil with coarse and medium texture and fine textured soils. The intervention values are defined as 3 – 5 times of maximum permissible concentrations for three land-use types: agricultural lands (arable lands + grasslands), residential and industrial/commercial areas. The purpose of the presentation is to describe the methods used for derivation the soil quality standards and to show the ways for their implementation.