Overview
EN ISO 19258:2018 - Soil quality: Guidance on the determination of background values (ISO 19258:2018) provides harmonized guidance for establishing background values of inorganic and organic substances in soils at a local to regional scale. Published by CEN and identical to ISO 19258:2018, the standard focuses on principles, sampling strategies, data processing and analysis methods for soils. It excludes site-scale assessments and does not apply to groundwater or sediments.
Key topics
- Scope and definitions: Clear terminology for background concentration, pedo‑geochemical vs anthropogenic fractions, statistical characteristics and study area definitions (normative reference: ISO 11074).
- Objectives & technical approaches: Guidance on framing study objectives, selecting substances and parameters (basic parameters; persistent and non‑persistent compounds).
- Study design: Defining study area, time period and appropriate scale of sampling for local/regional background value determination.
- Data evaluation: Assessment of existing datasets including completeness, comparability (sampling, nomenclature, analytical methods) and outlier identification.
- Collection of new data: Recommended sampling strategies and laboratory analysis considerations for representative soil samples.
- Data processing & statistics: Statistical evaluation methods, outlier tests (Annex A), presentation and reporting of background values, and derivation of statistical characteristics (mean, median, percentiles).
- Quality control: Data handling, QA/QC practices and documentation to ensure reproducibility and defensible background values.
- Annexes: Practical annexes with outlier test guidance and examples of relevant substances/parameters.
Applications
EN ISO 19258:2018 is practical for tasks that need robust, standardized background concentrations and statistical characterizations:
- Establishing baseline soil concentrations for environmental monitoring and trend analysis
- Supporting contaminated land assessment and remediation decision-making (setting reference levels)
- Informing risk assessment, land use planning and regulatory compliance
- Designing regional soil surveys and interpreting historical dataset variability
Who should use this standard
- Environmental regulators and policy makers
- Soil scientists and geochemists
- Environmental consultants and remediation professionals
- Analytical laboratories and quality managers
- Research institutions conducting regional soil assessments
Related standards
Using EN ISO 19258:2018 ensures consistent, transparent methods for defining soil background values, improving comparability across studies and supporting defensible environmental decisions. Keywords: soil quality, background values, ISO 19258, sampling strategies, data processing, pedo‑geochemical, anthropogenic, soil monitoring.
