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Obtaining good and meaningful data is an important process in contaminated projects. If done incorrectly it can be very expensive, particularly for big schemes. For example, in the Olympic project over 44 600 m3 of soil has been sampled and tested so far. Without good data, the construction industry could face even more problems in the future, particularly in light of the downturn in the housing market
Data management and interpretation has been a subject of recent debate among many construction professionals. CLA:IRE/CIEHs report, Guidance on comparing soil contamination data with a critical concentration published in early 2008 gives detailed guidance on the use of statistics in risk assessment. ESI has also produced a spreadsheet to help people apply the statistical tests in the guidance. The guidance has stimulated considerable discussion among many contaminated land practitioners on sampling, particularly how and when statistics should be applied. While this report is useful, its release in isolation may overemphasise the need for statistical testing.
This new CIRIA proposal Management and interpretation of data for risk
assessment on contaminated land (Prop2672) will provide more comprehensive
guidance on data interpretation and management. It will focus on:
• what and how to deal with circumstances where statistics could not
and should not be applied eg biased sampling and how to deal with these cases
• demonstrate and explain geostatistical analysis and estimation, the
need to decluster sites data and allow for relevant interpolation techniques
• the overall approach in obtaining good data from sampling including
practical issues, for example when resources limit the amount of samples that
can be taken
• how do deal with some special contaminants such as VOCs and non-threshold
substances
• help contaminated land professionals to be flexible, pragmatic and
confident when making their conclusions about a site
• other aspects associated with data management.
For further information and to get involved in this project email
Joanne Kwan at CIRIA.
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