Federal contaminated sites: publications

About the program and approach

• A federal approach to contaminated sites (PDF 0.28MB)

Guidance documents related to human health risk assessment

• Part I: guidance on human health preliminary quantitative risk assessment (PQRA), Version 2.0
• Part II: Health Canada toxicological reference values, Version 2.0
• Part III: guidance on peer review of human health risk assessments for federal contaminated sites in Canada, Version 2.0
• Part IV: spreadsheet tool for human health preliminary quantitative risk assessment (discontinued)
• Part V: guidance on human health detailed quantitative risk assessment for chemicals (DQRA_CHEM)
• Part VI: guidance on human health detailed quantitative radiological risk assessment (DQRA_RAD)
• Part VII: guidance for soil vapour intrusion assessment at contaminated sites
• Supplemental guidance: checklist for peer review of detailed human health risk assessment (HHRA)
• Supplemental guidance on developing a contract statement of work (SOW) for human health preliminary quantitative risk assessment (PQRA) and detailed quantitative risk assessment (DQRA)
• Supplemental guidance on human health risk assessment for country foods (HHRA_Foods)
• Supplemental guidance on human health risk assessment for oral bioavailability of substances in soil and soil-like media
• Supplemental guidance on human health risk assessment of contaminated sediments: direct contact pathway
• Supplemental guidance on human health risk assessment of air quality version, 2.0
• Supplemental guidance on human health risk assessment of indoor settled dust

Guidance on assessing ecological risks

• Ecological risk assessment guidance (PDF 3.0 MB)
• Module 1: toxicity test selection and interpretation (PDF 1.75 MB)
• Module 2: selection or development of site-specific toxicity reference values (PDF 1.25 MB)
• Module 3: standardization of wildlife receptor characteristics (PDF 1.50 MB)
• Module 4: causality assessment (PDF 1.15 MB)
• Statements of work for ecological risk assessments at federal sites (PDF 0.99 MB)

Program related guidance to address sites

• Decision making framework (DMF)
• Executive summary of the federal contaminated sites action plan (FCSAP) long-term monitoring planning guidance
• National classification system for contaminated sites
• Supplemental guidance for the scoring of sites using the national classification system for contaminated sites (NCSCS) and aquatic sites classification system (ASCS) under the federal contaminated sites action plan (PDF 0.85 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites action plan (FCSAP): guidance for site closure tool for federal contaminated sites (PDF 4.00 MB)
• Framework for addressing and managing aquatic contaminated sites under the federal contaminated sites action plan (FCSAP)
• Addressing psychosocial factors through capacity building: a guide for managers of contaminated sites

Other technical guidance to address sites

• Federal Guidelines for Landfarming Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils (PDF 0.91 MB)

Federal contaminated site action plan advisory bulletin (FAB)

• Can provincial/territorial guidelines be applied in lieu of existing federal guidelines? (PDF 0.47 MB)
• How clean does a contaminated site need to be to achieve acceptable protection of ecological receptors for subsequent site closure?
• What if a contaminated site with unacceptable ecological risk cannot be remediated or risk managed?
• Radionuclides in groundwater
• How do you address emerging or known contaminants for which no guideline currently exists?
• How, when and why do I decommission a groundwater monitoring well?

Annual reports

• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2016 to 2017 (PDF 3.60 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2015 to 2016 (PDF 1.60 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2014 to 2015 (PDF 1.00 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2013 to 2014 (PDF 2.71 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2012 to 2013 (PDF 1.25 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2011 to 2012 (PDF 1.48 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites report for Canada's economic action plan years 2009 to 2011 (PDF 5.00 MB)
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2008 to 2009
• Federal contaminated sites annual report 2007 to 2008 (PDF 0.57 MB)

Other related reports

• Who will do the cleanup? Canadian labour requirements for the remediation and reclamation of contaminated sites (2006-2009) (PDF 2.62MB)
• When supply does not meet demand: labour gaps and issues in Canada's contaminated sites sector (2008) (PDF 3.26MB)