In the 2011 updates, Atkins has released Water Screening Values (WSVs) to assess chronic human health exposure from the inhalation of vapours to concentrations of contaminants in shallow groundwater or perched water.

The WSVs can be downloaded The ATRISKsoil WSVs.

As presented within the model inputs, only vapour pathways are applicable to the WSVs, and therefore no dermal or ingestion pathways are considered – please bear this in mind when you use the WSVs. In addition, the WSVs are based on a human health receptor and are not applicable for assessing Controlled Waters receptors.

Atkins has changed the approach to critiera whcih exceed the the theoretical soil saturation limit in the SSVs.

The 2011 SSVs present a risk based value as the SSV and give the lower of the aqueous and vapour based soil saturation limit in the notes column. This is different to the approach in the 2008-2009 SSVs, where the lower of the vapour or aqueous based saturation limits was given as the SSV and the risk based value was provided in the notes column. Further information on this approach can be found in the Support, Technical Queries section.

Atkins has added the following contaminants to the SSVs and WSVs:

• chromium III
• chloroform/trichloromethane
• dinoseb
• trichloromethylbenzene
• nicotine
• formaldehyde
• prochloraz
• 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethyl)-4-(1-methylpropyl)-phenol
• 2,4-Dichloro-o-cresol
• dibromochloromethane
• DDD
• contaminants within the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC)

Atkins would like to thank the EIC and those involved in deriving the data for allowing us to use their toxicological and physical chemical parameters. As the EIC has published generic criteria for a sandy loam soil at a 6% soil organic matter, Atkins has not included these within the SSV dataset.

The EIC report can be found here:

http://www.claire.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=306&Itemid=91