Commissioned reports on soil
SEPA commissions research to provide evidence and inform policy and regulation. Some of the items listed here are older documents and are hosted on the web archive of the National Records of Scotland.
Water quality
Effect of soil structure and field drainage on water quality and flood risk (2016, CREW, pdf 6.03MB)
Developing simple indicators to assess the role of soils in determining risks to water quality (2014, CREW, pdf 9.51MB)
Assessing the potential risks to water quality from phosphate leaching (2013, SAC consulting, pdf 4.1MB)
Soil phosphorus levels in diffuse pollution priority catchments (2011, SAC consulting, pdf 4.0MB)
Application of waste materials to land
Materials to Land Assessment, Sustainability, Availability and Location (2020, SAC consulting, pdf 3.9MB)
Development of framework for a Red-Amber-Green assessment on phosphorus application to land (2019, The James Hutton Institute, pdf 15.4MB)
Assessment of organic contaminants in materials spread on land (2019, WCA, pdf 1.3MB)
Review of restoration achievements at two Scottish opencast mines (2018, SAC consulting, pdf 14.6MB)
Guidance on suitable organic material applications for land restoration and improvement (2015, Earthcare Technical and ADAS, pdf 1MB)
Assessment of risks to soil quality and human health from organic contaminants in materials commonly spread on land in Scotland (2014, WCA, pdf 4.3MB)
Organic soils and peatland
Determination of organic carbon stocks in blanket peat in different condition - assessment of peat condition (2015, The James Hutton Institute, pdf 3.4MB)
Applying soil indicators at biomonitoring sites (2015, pdf 1.3MB)
Testing soil quality indicators (2013, The James Hutton Institute, pdf 1.7MB)
To establish soil indicators to assess the impact of atmospheric deposition on environmentally sensitive areas (2010, Macaulay Scientific Consulting, pdf 1MB)
Citizen science
Socioeconomic data
Socio-economic data on Scottish soils – collection and development (2010, Macaulay Scientific Consulting, pdf 0.84MB)