Does a WAC Test Mean My Site is Safe to Develop On?
WAC Testing only tests the soil for certain chemical levels as required by landfill companies. This determines whether the soil is safe to go to landfill and shows if it contains excessive levels of chemicals that will leach into the soil. Depending on the nature of your work, your local council or planning office may be happy to proceed with a WAC test, so please do liaise with them directly regarding your project.
Other planning offices may refer to Soil Guideline Values (SGVs). These are designed to assist professionals to assess the long-term risk to human health from low-level exposure to certain chemicals. The SGV values only cover certain specific substances which are known to cause risk to human health. The substances include:
Arsenic Toluene
Nickel Ethylbenzene
Mercury Xylene
Selenium PCBSs (Polychlorinated biphenyls)
Cadmium Phenol
Benzene
SGV values are different than the WAC values, so please do not presume that a successful WAC test will lead to your development progressing.
Contact Us To Find Out More About A WAC Test
ProHort would recommend liaising with your local planning team, to ensure that you are completing the correct soil analysis for the correct purposes. Two of our soil analysis packages offer an analytic report – if you let us know which values you would like us to analyse against, then your report can be tailored accordingly. Find out more about the soil analysis packages we offer by visiting our Soil Analysis page, or get in touch on 01782 479479 to speak to somebody.
