Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:5:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 5 (pt 4/5)
Character Range: 1199251–1202233

be adverse. The suitability of such non-standardised tests can be determined using the method in Schedules B5b and B5c, which assesses the quality of terrestrial toxicity data in terms of experimental design, analytical and statistical techniques used, and whether appropriate quality assurance and quality procedure measures were in place.

The toxicity tests can be conducted using artificial soils or soil from the site. They can also be conducted in the field or in the laboratory. The most environmentally relevant toxicity tests are those that expose species that occur (or would be expected to occur if the contamination was not present, based on known distributions), excluding threatened or endangered species, at the site or surrounding areas to the contaminants of concern in soil from the site. In addition, toxicity tests could be conducted using (1) uncontaminated soil from the site or similar sites that is spiked with increasing concentrations of the contaminants of concern, or (2) contaminated soil from the site diluted using an appropriate soil.

Toxicity tests that expose the test organisms for long periods of time—generally, greater than two weeks (that is, chronic tests)—are preferred for the derivation of EILs rather than those with short exposure durations (that is, acute tests). In order to derive site-specific EILs, toxicity data for certain minimum numbers of species that belong to a minimum number of taxonomic groups are required (Heemsbergen et al. 2009). It is strongly advised that the advice of appropriately qualified and experienced ecotoxicologists is sought before commencing any toxicity testing, in order to conduct toxicity tests that will be useable in deriving site-specific EILs.

A detailed analysis of the uncertainty, strength and relevance of the toxicity data that has been collated from the literature or generated through conducting toxicity tests should be reported.

The methodology for deriving soil-specific EILs is provided in Schedule B5b. Worked examples of the EIL derivation methodology can be found in Schedule B5c and details on how to derive relationships between soil physicochemical properties and toxicity are provided in Warne et al. (2008a, 2008b).

5.5              Risk characterisation
Data gained during the exposure and toxicity assessment phases are used to modify the assumptions underlying the EILs and to calculate site-specific EILs. The site-specific EILs should be calculated using the methodology described in Schedule B5b. The on-site concentrations of each contaminant of concern should then be compared to the site-specific EILs[5].

If the on-site soil concentration of contaminants is equal to or less than the site-specific EILs for each contaminant and the toxicity of the mixture of contaminants does not exceed the EILmixture (see Appendix 2), the site contamination is considered unlikely to pose an adverse ecological impact.

If the on-site soil concentration of any contaminant of