This standard is formulated with a view to implementing the "Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", preventing soil contamination, protecting ecological environment, safeguarding the agriculture and forestry production and maintaining human health.
1 Subject Content and Application Scope
1.1 Subject content
This Standard specifies the index value for maximum allowable concentration of pollutants in soils and the corresponding monitoring method according to the application function, protection goals and major soil properties.
1.2 Application scope
This standard is applicable to soils in farmlands, vegetable lands, tea gardens, orchards, woodlands and natural reserves.
2 Terms
2.1 Soils: it refers to the tectorium on the surface of earth land, on which green plants can grow.
2.2 Cation exchange capacity of soils: it refers the absorbed amount of cations on the negatively charged soil colloid from solution by virtue of electrostatic attraction, which is expressed by the cmol of entire exchangeable cations in per kilogram dry soil (calculated in univalent ion).
3 Classification and Standard Levels of Soil Environment Quality
3.1 Classification
Soils are divided into three categories according to the application function and protection goals:
Category I is mainly applicable to soils in nature reserves as prescribed by the State (excluding those with original background containing high level of heavy metal), centralized drinking water source region, tea gardens, pasture lands and other protective regions; the soil quality basically maintain the natural background level.
Category II is mainly applicable to soils in farmlands, vegetable lands, tea gardens, orchards, pasture land, etc.; the soil quality basically does not cause hazard or contamination to the plants and environment.
Category III is mainly applicable to woodland soil, high background value soils containing large pollutants and agricultural soils (excluding vegetable lands) near minerals; the soil quality basically does not cause hazard and contamination to plants and environment.
