Quebec’s Soil Protection and Rehabilitation of Contaminated Sites Policy provides the necessary framework for preserving the integrity of soil and groundwater. It establishes priority actions and offers various ways to assess and manage contaminated sites. In addition to using specific criteria, the policy provides guidelines for assessment and rehabilitation through risk analysis and management. All risks must be assessed in compliance with the guidelines for assessing human health with regards to toxicological risks. These guidelines are developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment Procedure developed by the Centre for expertise and environmental analysis of Quebec.
The Intervention Guide – Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Rehabilitation gathers information on the legal and regulatory framework of contaminated lands in Quebec and presents the relevant guidelines for this field. The application tool replaces the technical aspects of the Soil Protection and Rehabilitation of Contaminated Sites Policy and provides an update of the various existing tools, such as soil and groundwater criteria, risk analysis and groundwater management.
The Intervention Guide aims to clarify all applicable rules for the benefit of all who use it. Therefore, it promotes equity in interventions and clarifies the expectations of the Ministry in the application of its laws and regulations. It is an essential tool for environmental consultants, commercial and industrial companies, municipalities, government stakeholders and landowners who want to know about contaminated land management in order to respond accordingly.
Appendix 2 of the Intervention Guide presents the generic criteria for land use, namely the levels of criteria A, B and C. These criteria make it possible to specify the quality of soils in Quebec according to the use of the land. They also make it possible to evaluate the extent of a contamination and to set the decontamination objectives to be attained according to the use of the site. For its part, Appendix 7 presents the groundwater quality criteria.