What Hazardous Materials Can Lurk in Soil?

What hazardous materials are there in soil? It is the most neglected question when it comes to soil analysis. If you were to do a soil assessment of any brownfield site, you’d probably find that nearly all of the soil was made up of one or more hazardous substances. These would be anything from herbicides to pesticides, oil or any number of chemicals – everything, in fact, except nutrients. The question then is how long will the effects of these chemicals last in the soil?

Image credit

There is a need for soil assessments before repurposing a former industrial site, and most companies who specialize in this field have special labs to test and analyse these types of hazardous materials. These companies will know what the best solutions are for different types of soils and what type of soil will work best for returning the land to baseline conditions. They are experts and they understand the chemical makeup of the soil. This is very important when you are working in an area susceptible to contamination by hazardous materials. This is especially true in regard to agriculture where many crops must be sprayed with hazardous chemicals before they are harvested. Many of these chemicals can leach into the water table in the area and contaminate drinking water. For a Land Remediation Service, visit a site like Soilfix

Image credit

In addition to a soil assessment, there are other testing methods that can be used to determine what types of dangerous chemicals are present in the soil. These testing methods include laboratory analysis, as well as field tests. It is vital that these types of testing methods be done before any chemical is used in the soil.

Connell
The author is an expert on occupational training and a prolific writer who writes extensively on Business, technology, and education. He can be contacted for professional advice in matters related with occupation and training on his blog Communal Business and Your Business Magazine.