This International Standard provides guidance on the appropriate use of leaching tests on soil and soil materials, in order to determine the leaching behaviour in the framework of impact assessment, or for compliance and comparison purposes, including information on the following:
the choice of leaching tests, depending on the nature of the problem to be solved and the specific features of the different tests;
the interpretation of the test results;
the limitations of the tests. In this respect, it is important to keep in mind that leaching tests do not aim to simulate real field conditions, but are designed to address the contact between a solid and a liquid phase for different purposes that are described in this International Standard.
This International Standard only concerns natural, contaminated and agricultural soils and soil materials. Questions relating to the leaching of wastes are not covered by this International Standard. It also does not cover the subject of bioavailability of contaminants to living organisms, which is covered by ISO 17402.
Leaching tests are designed and used for characterisation of the source term. It may be possible to address transport aspects with leaching tests if some basic requirements are known (e.g. hydrodynamic), thus allowing the determination of key transport parameters (e.g. retardation factors, particle-facilitated transport, attenuation processes). In this International Standard, when the term “soil” is only quoted to simplify the writing, the broader term “soil and soil materials” shall be considered.