Fact sheets

CRC CARE Fact Sheets are written for a general non-technical audience. They aim to help people understand Contamination Assessment and Remediation Technologies. The Fact Sheet series will slowly grow in number and provide a great resource for students and educational purposes. As the series grows and your understanding of the area develops, the Fact Sheets will become more complex and focused.

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 1: Contamination
Contamination of soil, water and air by the toxic biological and chemical byproducts of human activities has been a feature of our environment ever since the industrial revolution and, in some cases, since civilization itself began. [pdf 166.1 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 2: Risk assessment
Risk assessment is the process of establishing whether a risk exists from a contaminated site or water body either to people or to the environment. It also looks at the extent of the risk, and so helps in determining what should be done about it. [pdf 164.6 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 3: Remediation
Remediation means providing a remedy. Today it is generally used to mean the clean-up or making safe of a site or water body contaminated by toxic substances, whether they are natural or man-made. [pdf 166.5 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 4: Bioremediation
Bioremediation is any process that uses microbes, fungi, plants or their enzymes to make a contaminated site safe for human use or environmentally healthy. [pdf 164.8 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 5: Zero waste
Most industries and municipalities produce waste or emissions of one kind or another. Mining and mineral processing, energy and petrochemicals, manufacturing, food processing, iron and steelmaking all generate waste streams after they have extracted the economically-valuable products from raw materials. [pdf 165.5 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 6: Acid sulfate soils (ASS)
Acid sulfate soils (ASS) are a major threat to water quality in many areas of Australia and the world where acid-bearing sediments in former coastal wetlands and salt-marshes have been drained. [pdf 167.1 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 7: Toxic metals
Toxic metals are metals that form poisonous soluble compounds and are of no benefit to humans, plants or animals even in small amounts. In other words they are not minerals essential to life, or else they occur in forms that are harmful when consumed or contacted. [pdf 167.8 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 8: VOCs and POPs
VOCs and POPs are two fo the most insidious forms of toxic contamination which are now thought to affect almost all human beings and, potentially, all life on earth. They may well play a role in the modern epidemic of cancers, diabetes and chronic disease. [pdf 166.8 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 9: Indoor air quality
Indoor air quality (IAQ) refers to the content of interior air that can affect the health, safety and comfort of people living or working in buildings or confined spaces. Indoor air can be polluted by a wide range of toxic chemical contaminants - including gases, vapours and dusts - as well as by biological contaminants such as moulds, viruses and dust mites. [pdf 168.2 kb]

document CRC CARE Fact Sheet 10: Pesticide residues
Pesticides are substances that are designed to kill or discourage pests - such as insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, parasites and bacteria which threaten the food supply or public health and safety. However, being mostly designed to kill, pesticides can sometimes have harmful effects on humans, livestock and teh natural evironment, especially if they enter the food chain or drinking water supply. [pdf 166.5 kb]