Long-term persistence of organic chemicals in sewage sludge-amended agricultural land: A soil quality perspective

Papers have been published reporting on the persistence and movement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (FCBs), and chlorobenzenes (CBs) in a range of soils subjected to single and multiple applications of sewage sludge and soils that have never received sewage sludge. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of these studies and provides a review of the mechanisms that have been postulated to be responsible for the long-term persistence and dissipation of organic chemicals in sewage sludge-amended soils. The chapter discusses long-term experiments and the compounds investigated. It is apparent that the behavior of organic chemicals in sewage sludge-amended soils is complicated by the number of loss processes involved and the complexity of their dependence on site-specific environmental and anthropogenic factors. One possible alternative is to use simple behavior assessment or screening models based on organic compound physicochemical properties to predict their likely environmental fate and behavior. Soil quality criteria have been established in some countries to assess the effectiveness of remediation strategies employed in the cleanup of contaminated soil and as a means of limiting future contamination. These quality criteria must be both practicable and scientifically defensible so that they may be widely recognized as cost effective and protective of environmental quality and human health. The chapter also discusses the Kinetically Constrained Soil Quality Limit (KCSQL) concept. © 1995, Academic Press Inc.