Method for Assessing the Integrated Risk of Soil Pollution in Industrial and Mining Gathering Areas

• Main Authors: Yang Guan, Chaofeng Shao, Qingbao Gu, Meiting Ju, Qian Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-11-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: industrial and mining gathering areas; soil environmental risk assessment; polluting factory; inherent risk level assessment; integrated risk analysis
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/11/14589

Industrial and mining activities are recognized as major sources of soil pollution. This study proposes an index system for evaluating the inherent risk level of polluting factories and introduces an integrated risk assessment method based on human health risk. As a case study, the health risk, polluting factories and integrated risks were analyzed in a typical industrial and mining gathering area in China, namely, Binhai New Area. The spatial distribution of the risk level was determined using a Geographic Information System. The results confirmed the following: (1) Human health risk in the study area is moderate to extreme, with heavy metals posing the greatest threat; (2) Polluting factories pose a moderate to extreme inherent risk in the study area. Such factories are concentrated in industrial and urban areas, but are irregularly distributed and also occupy agricultural land, showing a lack of proper planning and management; (3) The integrated risks of soil are moderate to high in the study area.