This letter is a response to the comment submitted to chemosphere by Melleton et al. on our paper (Delplace et al., 2022), entitled pedo-geochemical background and sediment contamination of metal(loid)s in the old mining-district of Salsigne (Orbiel valley, France) by Gauthier Delplace, Jérôme Viers, Eva Schreck, Priscia Oliva and Philippe Behra (2022), published online in Chemosphere in September 2021