CETESB published Board Decision updating the thresholds for contaminants in the soil and groundwater

In brief

On 14 December 2021,  CETESB (Environmental Agency of the State of São Paulo) published Board Decision No. 125/2021/E of 9 December 2021, which approved the updated  list of thresholds for contaminants in the soil and groundwater in the State of São Paulo and revoked the former list approved by Board Decision No. 256/2016/E, of 22 November 2016.

More details

The new Board Decision has a single annex containing the thresholds for contaminants in the soil and groundwater in the State of São Paulo, duly updated.  

Overall, Board Decision No. 125/2021/E presented more restrictive thresholds ​​compared to the values ​​presented in the Board Decision No. 256/2016/E, such as: (i) reduction of Vinyl Chloride from 2µg /L to 0.5μg/L, (ii) reduction of Trichloroethene – TCE from 20μg/L to 4μg/L, and (iii) 1.2 Dichloroethane from 10μg/L to 5μg/L.

This Decision also emphasizes that such thresholds can automatically change when there is a review or update of the specific legislation that establishes the potability standards, defined with basis on the risk to human health for the substances included in the annex.   Our Environment, Consumer and Sustainability team is available to provide further clarification on this subject.