The units for CSR soil standards are mg/kg ((mass of contaminant) / (mass of dry weight soil or substrate)). Due to the weight of water, mineral soil with a 20% moisture content would report concentrations of potential contaminants of concern (PCOC) that are 1.25 times greater as a dry weight compared to wet weight. Muskeg commonly has an eighty to ninety percent moisture content resulting in a reported PCOC concentration 5 to 10 times greater as a dry weight compared to wet weight.
SynergyAspen routinely reports PCOC concentrations in muskeg as a wet
weight, reducing concentrations by up to 10 times. OGC has accepted
SynergyAspen’s wet weight arguments. In 2012, SynergyAspen presented
this topic at the Science Advisory Board. In 2013, SynergyAspen’s work
was selected by the BC Environmental Management Association and
received an award for our work with wet weight analysis.
SynergyAspen obtained over 40 Certificates of Restoration (CoR) Part
1's using wet weight arguments avoiding unnecessary delineation and
remediation work. The cost savings were greater than $20,000/site
compared to the costs of delineation and remediation of a falsely
identified contamination.
