Approaches to assessing the risk of chemical contamination of Urban Soils

Abstract

The existing approaches to studying the risk of chemical contamination of soils are analyzed. It is noted that the actual and critical loads of contaminants on the soil cover are often compared for estimating these risks. The insufficient use of economic tools and methods for assessing the risk of soil contamination is emphasized. The sanitary-hygienic standards are found out to be exceeded for lead, zinc, cadmium and copper content in soils in six localities, each of 6250 m² in the area, situated in the industrial and transport zones of Podol’sk and Moscow. The values of actual and maximal permissible damage exerted by the heavy-metal contamination to the studied soils are calculated. The probable damage R and the degree of probable damage implementation (DPDI) are used as the indices of soil contamination risk.