What interpretation do you require?

ECSOL Limited can help you by interpreting your chemical data to resolve several issues, especially where our recommended analysis has been performed (see Analysis).

Some of the areas of interpretive expertise:

Contaminated Land:
CL1. Site Risk Assessment from analytical chemistry data of metals, anions, and organic compounds (groups and individuals);
CL2. In-depth interpretation of organic chemistry data, particularly GC/MS speciation;
CL3. Assessment of remediation monitoring programme data (see Bioremediation).

Civil engineering:
CE1. Assessment of soil/fill/sub-base chemistry to determine aggressive nature, including TRL447 interpretation;
CE2. Groundwater assessment – as CE1;
CE3. Topsoil characterisation, and required enhancement.

Built Environment:
BE1. Cement content analysis of concrete, assessment of chloride, sulphate, alkali level;
BE2. Original mix proportion analysis of Mortar, Screed and Plaster – especially historic mortars (e.g. lime : sand mortars) and modern matched designs;
BE3. Identification of utilised cement additives;
BE4. Interpretation of aggregate chemistry – oxides, ASR Potential;
BE5. Interpretation of anomalous characteristics investigation (e.g. staining on concrete, stone, etc);
BE6. Assessment of water for use in construction, including recycled waters (BS EN 1008);

Water:
W1. Determination of Drinking Water and Wastewater chemical parameter compliance;
W2. Interpretation of groundwater/surface water anomalous features (colour, odour, etc)

Waste Materials:
WM1. Waste Assessment Criteria classification;
WM2. In-depth interpretation of organic chemistry data, particularly GC/MS speciation, deriving suitability for bioremediation (see Bioremediation);

Anomalies:
A1. Substance identification (solid, liquid, stain, etc), its likely origin and potential impact, from chemical composition data.

Where advice and interpretation is needed

For most issues of quality control, the analytical chemistry data you receive is adequate by itself to compare with prerequisite limits of compliance – assuming the analytical method is “fit-for purpose”. With specific appraisals, such as contaminated land assessment, the situation becomes more complex. Whilst direct comparison of your data with, such as, Soil Guidance Values or Drinking Water Limits, is adequate when your parameter data is lower than those limits, the process becomes more complex when they are not. In these cases, you will probably use software models for determining groundwater risks and remedial targets for contaminated land sites. For many parameters, site-specific risk assessment data is achieved by simply entering the analytical data and running the model programme. Whilst an understanding of the programme and its algorithms are not necessary to be understood - assuming it is a programme that is recommended, supported and backed by rigorous quality assurance - you should be aware of the science behind the parameter chemical behaviour and toxicology used in the programme. Simply put, if you cannot explain the scientific basis for your derived site-specific target criteria, you should not be doing it.

  CLICK BUTTON TO VIEW 'CONTAMINATED LAND - THE ROLE OF THE CHEMIST' (MS Word 2003)

For some chemical parameters, the data you have depends on what you asked the laboratory to provide. This may sound obvious, but, as an example, there are accredited UK laboratories who will supply you with TPH data – each generated using different accredited protocols. This means that, if you split your samples between laboratories, the results will not be comparable. Perhaps you have already experienced this phenomenon of contrasting data from different analytical providers yourself.

So which laboratory should you use? It may be that you needed to be more specific in your analytical request – so, which method is best? and which data can you use in your modelling programme?

Here, ECSOL can advise you (Contact Us or see Analysis).