The Environment Technical Committee Holds Its Twelfth Meeting via Microsoft Teams

The Environment Technical Committee held its twelfth meeting via Microsoft Teams, with the participation of representatives from 11 relevant stakeholder organizations.

The Committee Secretary, Eng. Tareq Abu Al-Rub, stated that the committee discussed seven draft Palestinian standards and decided to submit them to the Board of Directors for approval as updated Palestinian standards to replace their previous editions. The committee also completed the review of seven Palestinian standards, recommending the confirmation of the validity of two standards and referring five standards for updating.

During the meeting, the committee discussed the following seven draft standards for updating:

• PS Draft 3055: Soil Quality — Pretreatment of Samples for Physico-Chemical Analysis.
• PS Draft 3056: Soil, Treated Biowaste and Sludge — Determination of pH.
• PS Draft 3176: Environmental Solid Matrices — Determination of Elemental Composition by X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF).
• PS Draft 3208: Soil Quality — Guidance on Laboratory Testing for the Biodegradation of Organic Chemicals in Soil under Aerobic Conditions.
• PS Draft 3217-1: Soil Quality — Determination of Microbial Biomass in Soil — Part 1: Substrate-Induced Respiration Method.
• PS Draft 3217-2: Soil Quality — Determination of Microbial Biomass in Soil — Part 2: Fumigation and Extraction Method.
• PS Draft 3219: Soil Quality — Guidance on Laboratory Testing for the Biodegradation of Organic Chemicals in Soil under Aerobic Conditions.

The committee also completed the review of the following seven Palestinian standards:

• PS 2243:2018: Acoustics — Determination of Sound Power Levels of Noise Sources — Basic Guide for the Use of Standards.
• PS 2244:2018: Acoustics — Requirements for the Performance and Calibration of Reference Sound Sources Used for the Determination of Sound Power Levels.
• PS 3079:2015: Soil Quality — Determination of Nitrate Nitrogen, Ammonium Nitrogen and Total Soluble Nitrogen in Air-Dried Soils Using Calcium Chloride Solution as an Extractant.
• PS 3154:2015: Soil Quality — Determination of Dioxins, Furans and Dioxin-Like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) by Gas Chromatography with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometric Detection (GC/HRMS).
• PS 3157:2021: Soil Quality — Determination of Exchangeable Acidity in Barium Chloride Extracts.
• PS 3220:2015: Soil Quality — Determination of Potential Nitrification and Inhibition of Nitrification — Rapid Test by Ammonium Oxidation.
• PS 3221:2015: Soil Quality — Assessment of the Effects of Pollutants on Juvenile Land Snails (Helicidae) in Contaminated Soils through Growth Measurement.

The committee emphasized the importance of continuing the periodic review and updating of Palestinian standards in order to enhance environmental quality and ensure the alignment of national standards with the latest international references and best practices.