The use of the GEMAS data for compliance with European Chemicals Legislation Ilse Schoeters, Rio Tinto Koen Oorts, Arche EuroGeoSurveys Workshop FAO, Rome,

The use of the GEMAS data for compliance with European Chemicals LegislationIlse Schoeters, Rio TintoKoen Oorts, Arche

EuroGeoSurveys Workshop FAO, Rome, 5 December 2013

Outline

• European Chemical legislation – background

• Assessing risks to soil organisms – method and data requirements

• Use of GEMAS data for risk assessment of metals in soil

2

European Chemical legislation - background

• Chemicals produced and imported in the EU

• Risk assessment to health and environment

• Scale: local, regional and continental

• Method: EU guidance documents

• Who? ESR: Member States

REACH: producers/importers

No registration – no market

ESR: Existing Substances Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (EC) No 1907/2006 3

PEC

Predicted Exposure Concentration

•Monitoring

•Modelling

PNEC

Predicted No Effect Concentration

Assessing risks to soil organisms – method

Continental, regional, local scale4

Issues for metals

1. Natural background

&

Spatial variation

2. Toxicity is a function of

soil properties

&

Spatial variation

5

(From Salminen et al., 2005, Fig. et al., 2009, p.206)

Soil compartment – data requirements

• Metal concentrations in soil

• Soil properties influencing bio-availability and toxicity of metals

pH, Organic Carbon, clay, effective Cationic Exchange Capacity (eCEC)

• Soil uses: agricultural soil, grazing land soil

natural soil

• Top soil, e.g., 0-10 cm grazing land soil, 0-20 cm agricultural soil

• Preferable Geo-referenced 6

Available soil monitoring data in 2008 (1)

• Many data not geo-referenced

• Statistical data - Raw data not available/accessible

• Combination of local, regional, continental data

• Different sampling methods, analytical methods

• Different sampling densities Bias towards data intensive countries/regions

7

Available soil monitoring data in 2008 (2)

8Smith, 2004

GEMAS data – the solution

• Equal coverage of EU member states

• Harmonised sampling method

• Harmonised analytical method

• Data collected according to REACH needs

• Top 10 cm grazing land

• Top 20 cm arable land

• Aqua regia – metal concentrations

• Geo-referenced

• Coupled data

Accurate risk assessment at local, regional and continental scale 9

10

Thank you for your attention

and

Koen Oorts will continue

with the Risk Assessment

11

Use of GEMAS data for risk assessment of metals in soil

Koen Oorts, Arche

Ilse Schoeters, Rio Tinto

EuroGeoSurveys Workshop

FAO, Rome, 5 December, 2013

12

Risk assessment of metals

Exposure Effects

Metal Abiotic factor

Co eCEC

Cu eCEC, pH, Organic carbon and clay

Ni eCEC

Zn eCEC, pH and background Zn

Pb eCEC

Mo Clay and pH(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.63.5, p.465)

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14

GEMAS

PEC = Predicted Environmental ConcentrationPNEC = Predicted No Effect ConcentrationRCR = Risk Characterisation Ratio, i.e. PEC/PNECRWC = Reasonable Worst Case

Distribution of RCR for all individual points


Coupled PEC and

PNEC data?

Coupled PEC and

PNEC data?

PEC and PNEC data?

PEC and PNEC data?

Data geo-referenced

?

Data geo-referenced

?

Distribution of RCR based on overlay of

interpolated PEC and PNEC maps



Probability distribution of RCR based on Monte Carlo analysis

of distribution of PEC and PNEC

Probability distribution of RCR based on Monte Carlo analysis

of distribution of PEC and PNECComparison of RWC

PEC with RWC PNECComparison of RWC PEC with RWC PNEC

Yes

YesYes

No

No

No


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Calculation of soil-specific toxicity thresholds

Species or process Abiotic factorPlants eCECInvertebrates eCECNitrification eCECGlucose respiration Organic C and clayPlant residue mineralisation pH and eCEC

Reference: scenario for which threshold values must be derived

Test: abiotic factors of the soil in which the NOEC or EC10 was derived

Slope: slope of regression equation between log ECx and log soil properties

Normalisation of all toxicity data to site-specific soil properties

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Calculation of soil-specific toxicity thresholds

More information: Smolders et al., 2009. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 28: 1633–1642

HC5 is basis for Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC)

Construction of species sensitivity distribution

0.05

(From Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.5, p.193)

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Agricultural soil (Ap) 0-20 cm

Grazing land soil (Gr) 0-10 cm

Effects: Cu PNEC distribution across Europe

Cu soil PNEC values are highly variable at the regional scale: <20 to >200 mg Cu/kg

(From Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.6, p.195) (From Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.6, p.195)

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Risk characterisation of Cu in European soil

Risk characterisation ratio (RCR)

Exposure Effects

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Agricultural soil (Ap) 0-20 cm

Grazing land soil (Gr) 0-10 cm

Risk characterisation of Cu in European soil

Only few, isolated sites predicted at risk (i.e., RCR >1): 1.6% and 1.3% of sites for Agricultural and Grazing land, respectively.

(From Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.7, p.198) (From Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.7, p.198)

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Risk assessment of Mo in agricultural soil

(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.36.5, p.309) (PNEC Mo & RCR Mo from Oorts and Schoeters, 2014, Fig. 12.6, p.196 & Fig. 12.7, p.199, respectively)

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Regional risk characterisation in soil

No risks identified for Cu and Mo in soil at the regional and continental scale

EU-27 Country-specific

Cu, Agricultural soil 0.43 0.12 (Lithuania) – 0.91 (FYROM)

Cu, Grassland 0.38 0.11 (Estonia and Lithuania) - 0.82 (Montenegro)

Mo, Agricultural soil 0.06 0.015 (Poland) – 0.36 (Cyprus)

Mo, Grassland 0.06 0.003 (Switzerland) - 0.15 (Cyprus)

90th percentile of RCR for Cu and Mo in European soil:

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GEMAS:RWC RCR Cu in Ap soil = 0.37

GEMAS:RWC RCR Cu in Ap soil = 0.37

PEC = Predicted Environmental ConcentrationPNEC = Predicted No Effect ConcentrationRCR = Risk Characterisation Ratio, i.e. PEC/PNECRWC = Reasonable Worst Case



Coupled PEC and

PNEC data?

Coupled PEC and

PNEC data?

PEC and PNEC data?

PEC and PNEC data?

Data geo-reference

d?

Data geo-reference

d?





Probability distribution of RCR based on Monte Carlo

analysis of distribution of PEC and PNEC

Probability distribution of RCR based on Monte Carlo

analysis of distribution of PEC and PNECComparison of RWC

PEC with RWC PNECComparison of RWC

PEC with RWC PNEC

Yes

YesYes

No

No

No

Advantage GEMAS data set

RWC RCR Cu in Ap soil = 0.90(= 90th percentile exposure / 10th percentile effects)

RWC RCR Cu in Ap soil = 0.90(= 90th percentile exposure / 10th percentile effects)

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Essential elements

(From sesl Australia, Interpreting a plant analysis, Fig. 1, http://www.sesl.com.au/fertileminds/200801/Interpreting.php)

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Deficiency: example for Cu

• Total area of soil likely to cause copper deficiency in crops in Europe estimated at 12 - 123 Mha (Alloway, 2005)

• Cereals (wheat and oat) sensitive to Cu deficiency

• Most diagnostic criteria based on extracts (DTPA, EDTA, HCl, acid ammonium acetate, …)

• Indications for low available copper:– Low total Cu

– Calcareous soil (e.g., Calcisol, Rendzina)

– Organic soil (e.g., Histosol)

– Coarse-textured soil (e.g., Podzol, Arenosol)

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Cu deficient soil: potential use of GEMAS

• Assessment of areas potentially at risk

• Assessment of Cu deficiency based on Cu availability indices for toxicity:– RCR: 19% of Ap samples with RCR<0.1– Cu/eCEC: 7% of Ap samples with Cu/eCEC <1%

Criterion % Ap samples at risk

<7 mg Cu/kg 20%

pH >7 26%

Organic carbon >20% 1%

Sand >65% 20%

Factor 10?

(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.5.5, p.130)

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Conclusions: GEMAS data = the solution!• EU 27 covered (except Malta and Romania)• Harmonised data:

– sampling depth

– sampling density

– land use

– analytical methods

• Data for metal concentrations and soil properties affecting metal bioavailability

Accurate risk assessment at local, regional and continental scale in Europe

Worst-case assumptions avoided Data allow for directly comparable country-specific regional risk

characterisation Other potential applications: assessment of deficient soil, ...

27

GEMAS atlas

For more information see:•Part A – Chapter 2: REACH and GEMAS by Violaine Verougstraete, Ilse Schoeters

•Part B – Chapter 12:Use of monitoring data for risk assessment of metals in soil under the European REACH regulation by Koen Oorts, Ilse Schoeters

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Thank you for your attention

ReferencesReferences

REFERENCESSLIDE 5:Salminen, R. (Chief-editor), Batista, M.J., Bidovec, M., Demetriades, A., De Vivo, B., De Vos, W., Duris, M., Gilucis, A., Gregorauskiene, V., Halamic, J., Heitzmann, P., Lima, A., Jordan, G., Klaver, G., Klein, P., Lis, J., Locutura, J., Marsina, K., Mazreku, A., O’Connor, P.J., Olsson S.Å., Ottesen, R.T., Petersell, V., Plant, J.A., Reeder, S., Salpeteur, I., Sandström, H., Siewers, U., Steenfelt, A. & Tarvainen, T. (Editors), 2005. FOREGS Geochemical Atlas of Europe, Part 1: Background Information, Methodology and Maps. Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo, 526 pp., 36 figures, 362 maps, http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/.

SLIDE 8:Smith C, 2004. Determination of the Spatial Distribution of Soil Bioavailability Parameters in the European Union – Final Report by Parametrix for the European Copper Institute (Internal Report): Map pH data: Figure 4, p18;Map Cu data: Figure 4, p18; Map OM data: Figure 6, p20; Map Clay data: Figure 8, p22.

SLIDES 11, 19 (Mo in Ap), 24:Reimann, C., Demetriades, A., Birke, M., Filzmoser P., O’Connor, P., Halamic, J., Ladenberger, A. & the GEMAS Project Team, 2014. Distribution of elements/parameters in agricultural and grazing land soil of Europe. Chapter 11 In: C. Reimann, M. Birke, A. Demetriades, P. Filzmoser & P. O’Connor (Editors), Chemistry of Europe's agricultural soils – Part A : Methodology and interpretation of the GEMAS data set. Geologisches Jahrbuch (Reihe B 102), Schweizerbarth, 101-472.

SLIDES 15, 16, 18, 19 (PNEC Mo & RCR Mo):Oorts, K. & Schoeters, I., 2014. Use of monitoring data for risk assessment of metals in soil under the European REACH regulation . Chapter 12 In: C. Reimann, M. Birke, A. Demetriades, P. Filzmoser & P. O’Connor (Editors), Chemistry of Europe's agricultural soils – Part B: General background information and further analysis of the GEMAS data set . Geologisches Jahrbuch (Reihe B 103), Schweizerbarth, 189-202.

SLIDES 15 cited reference: Smolders, E., Oorts, K., van Sprang, P., Schoeters, I., Janssen, C.R., McGrath, S. & Mclaughlin, M.J., 2009. Toxicity of trace metals in soil as affected by soil type and aging after contamination: Using calibrated bioavailability models to set ecological soil standards. Environmental Toxicology and Chemisry, 28(8), 1633-1642.

SLIDES 22 & 24: Source: SESL Australia, Interpreting a plant analysis, Fig. 1, http://www.sesl.com.au/fertileminds/200801/Interpreting.php

SLIDE 23 cited reference: Alloway, B.J., 2005. Bioavailability of elements in soil. Chapter 14 In: O. Selinus, B. Alloway, J.A. Centeno, R.B. Finkelman, R. Fuge, U. Lindh & P. Smedley (Editors), Essentials of medical geology: Impacts of the natural environment on public health. Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam, 347-372.

Documents

The use of the GEMAS data for compliance with European Chemicals Legislation Ilse Schoeters, Rio Tinto Koen Oorts, Arche EuroGeoSurveys Workshop FAO, Rome,