ARS | Publication request: AN ASSESSMENT OF METHODS FOR DETERMINING RISK IN SOIL SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 5, 1993
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Land-use managers have an increasing need for methods which provide information on the risk or uncertainty resulting from various management decisions. A recent Water Science Technology Board Committee addressed this issue in the context of assessing methods for determining the vulnerability of ground water to contamination. One conclusion made by this committee is that it is critical to determine the uncertainty in the assessment methods and the supporting data before use in management decision-making. A variety of methods are available to address this need, each having advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe some of the methods which may be useful for determining risk or uncertainty in soil science investigations and to provide an assessment of the methods. To illustrate the type of information needed by land-use managers, an example will be given where the risk of contamination nwas determined.