SOIL CONTAMINATION AND POLLUTION CRITERIA

The paper presents an overview of approaches to standards setting for soil contamination and pollution with potentially hazardous elements a nd persistent organic xenobiotic substances (especially in the Netherl ands, Germany and USA). The following multi-grade system of soil loadi ng criteria-limits is step-by-step gaining ground: a) anthropogenic co ntamination, b) ecotoxicologically detected loss of soil multifunction ality, c) threating of the food chain by transfer of pollutants into c rops in original plant production, d) direct impact on humans' health and remediation needs. They reflect the critical limits in decreasing the soil multifunctionality. In the Czech Republic the limits a), c) a re being developed, values d) are supposed to be taken over from forei gn standards.