The California Site Mitigation Decision Tree Manual, 1985, was developed by the California Department of Health Services to provide a detailed technical basis for managing uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The Decision Tree describes a process that relies on criteria, Applied Action Levels (AALs) to evaluate and, if necessary, mitigate the impact of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites on the p...

Soil health, along with water supply, is the most valuable resource for humans, as human life depends on the soil’s generosity. Soil degradation, therefore, poses a threat to food security, as it reduces yield, forces farmers to use more inputs, and may eventually lead to soil abandonment. Unfortunately, the importance of preserving soil health appears to be overlooked by policy makers. In this...

Soil microbial communities play an important role in plant health and soil quality. Researchers have developed a wide range of methods for studying the structure, diversity, and activity of microbes to better understand soil biology and plant-microbe interactions. Functional microbiological analyses of the rhizosphere have given new insights into the role of microbial communities in plant nutri...

Since soil health is impacted by inherent properties, it is, therefore, challenging to apply the same frameworks across multiple regions and types. Here, we examined effect of textural group (coarse, medium, fine) on four indicators soils sampled from diverse agricultural systems Ontario. Scoring functions were developed calculating cumulative normal distributions, using mean standard deviation...

Water harvesting is the collection of runoff for productivity purposes, instead of runoff being left to cause erosion. In arid and semi-arid drought-prone areas, micro-catchments are widely used as a water harvesting method to improve rangeland condition. The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of micro-catchment on ecological indices of rangeland health in Ghick-Sheikhha, Jirof...

Biochar application to soils is being considered as a means to sequester carbon (C) while concurrently improving soil functions. The main focus of this report is providing a critical scientific review of the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of biochar application to soils on soil properties and functions. Wider issues, including atmospheric emissions and occupational health and ...

A total of 200 soil samples taken from different sites and 1,504 stool samples collected from school children (n=188) and patients (n=1,316) visiting the health care centres in Kathmandu Valley were included in this study. Soil samples were investigated for the presence of parasitic eggs using sucrose flotation technique. Stool samples were examined by formal-ether concentration and direct smea...

An important concern for human health is the uptake of contaminants by plants from soil and their consumption by humans. The concentrations of heavy metals (lead, copper, cadmium) in the soil and plant samples collected from a village near sedimentation ponds, north-western Romania have been determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry after aqua regia digestion and by ...

during the croatian homeland war in 1991, the capacitor batteries of the zadar electric powersubstation (ts 110/35 kv) were damaged, resulting in the severe pollution of the soil with polychlorinatedbiphenyls (pcbs). due to porosity of karstic soil pcbs represent great environmental and human health risksthat need some action. the polluted soil was collected and an experimental field was formed...