Global assessment of soil pollution: The need for standardized methods

Reliable analysis and quantification of components in soil is essential in order to determine if the soil is ‘fit for purpose’. Soil provides the basis for our existence, but not all soils can be used for every purpose. This is sometimes obvious, but often it is necessary to characterize the soil in order to identify what soil use is possible. For agricultural use, domestic housing, recreation or industries, just to mention a few, specific soil conditions apply and often governmental regulations are in place. Reliable characterization methods are therefore of major importance. Standardization of such reliable methods is the objective of the European standardization committee CEN/TC 444 – Environmental characterization of solid matrices and the worldwide standardization committee ISO/TC 190 – Soil quality.