Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Health risk assessment of soil heavy metals in housing units built on brownfields in a city in China

  • Soils, Sec 5 • Soil and Landscape Ecology • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The present paper concerns the patterns of heavy metals (As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cr, and Cu) in surface soil of residential areas located on derelict brownfields in a city in China and the health risks to the residents.

Materials and methods

Forty-one surface soil samples were collected from 9 housing units built on different brownfields in a city of Henan Province in China, and the concentrations of heavy metals were measured. Based on the health risk models recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of soil heavy metals were assessed.

Results and discussion

Compared with the original brownfields, soil heavy metal contents and their health risks in housing units built on brownfields have significantly decreased. The contents and health risks of heavy metals in these housing units are all higher than those in non-brownfield housing units. The result of health risk assessment indicates that there are no non-carcinogenic risks and slight carcinogenic risks for the residents in these housing units. The contribution of hazard quotient caused by arsenic (HQ As) to hazard index (HI) is approximately 53%, and the contribution of cancer risk caused by arsenic (CR AS) to total carcinogenic risk (TCR) is approximately 80%.

Conclusions

The obtained results have confirmed the environmental effects of brownfields and that soil remediation is an essential step for the redevelopment of brownfields. Arsenic is the crucial heavy metal for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk in the housing units of the city, and the highest levels of non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks are associated with the route of ingestion of soil for all heavy metals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albanese S, Vivo BD, Lima A, Cicchella D, Civitillo D, Cosenza A (2010) Geochemical baselines and risk assessment of the Bagnoli brownfield site coastal sea sediments (Naples, Italy). J Geochem Explor 105:19–33

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Amekudzi A, Fomunung I (2004) Integrating brownfields redevelopment with transportation planning. J Urban Plan Dev 130:204–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertine KK, Goldberg ED (1971) Fossil fuel combustion and the major sedimentary cycle. Science 173:233–235

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Capobianco O, Costa G, Thuy L, Magliocco E, Hartog N, Baciocchi R (2014) Carbonation of stainless steel slag in the context of in situ brownfield remediation. Miner Eng 59:91–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen IC, Ma HW (2013) Using risk maps to link land value damage and risk as basis of flexible risk management for brownfield redevelopment. Chemosphere 90:2101–2108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng FF, Geertman S, Kuffer M, Zhan QM (2011) An integrative methodology to improve brownfield redevelopment planning in Chinese cities: a case study of Futian, Shenzhen. Comput Environ Urban Syst 35:388–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congress of the United States (1995) State of the states on Brownfields: programs for Cleanup and Reuse of Contaminated Sites, Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)

  • Du XL, Ma SY, Chu CJ, Ma JH (2008) Spatial distribution and its cause of arsenic in urban soils of Zhengzhou. Soils 40:635–639

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Enell A, Andersson-SkÖld Y, Vestin J, Wagelmans M (2016) Risk management and regeneration of brownfields using bioenergy crops. J Soils Sediments 16:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Environmental site assessment guideline (2009) DB11/T 656–2009 (in Chinese)

  • Ferreira Baptista L, De Miguel E (2005) Geochemistry and risk assessment of street dust in Luanda, Angola: a tropical urban environment. Atmos Environ 39:4501–4512

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher FJ, Pechmann I, Bogden JD, Grabosky J, Weis P (2008a) Soil metal concentrations and vegetative assemblage structure in an urban browbfield. Environ Pollut 153:351–361

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher FJ, Pechmann I, Bogden JD, Grabosky J, Weis P (2008b) Soil metal concentrations and productivity of betula polulifolia (gray birch) as measured by field spectrometry and incremental annual growth in an abandoned urban brownfield in New Jersey. Environ Pollut 156:699–706

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gallego JR, Esquinas N, Rodriguez-Valdes E, Menendez-Aguado JM, Sierra C (2015) Comprehensive waste characterization and organic pollution co-occurrence in a Hg and as mining and metallurgy brownfield. J Hazard Mater 300:561–571

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gržetić I, Ghariani RHA (2008) Potential health risk assessment for soil heavy metal contamination in the central zone of Belgrade (Serbia). J Serb Chem Soc 73:923–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ha H, Olson JR, Bian L, Rogerson PA (2014) Analysis of heavy metal sources in soil using kriging interpolation on principal components. Environ Sci Technol 48:4999–5007

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Han JX, Ma JH, Wei LH (2006) Effect of sewage irrigation on content and distribution of heavy metals in alluvial meadow soil—a case study of the Huafei river sewage irrigation region in Kaifeng city. Soils 38:292–297 (in Chinese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Julita MP, Andrew H, Hanna PK (2005) The interaction of heavy metals with urban soils: sorption behavior of Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn with a typical mixed brownfield deposit. Environ Int 31:513–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong S, Lu B, Ji Y, Zhao X, Chen L, Li Z, Han B, Bai Z (2011) Levels, risk assessment and sources of PM10 fraction heavy metals in four types dust from a coal-based city. Microchem J 98:280–290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li HM, Qian X, Hu W, Wang YL, Gao HL (2013) Chemical speciation and human health risk of trace metals in urban street dusts from a metropolitan city, Nanjing, SE China. Sci Total Environ 456-457:212–221

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lim HS, Lee JS, Chon HT, Sager M (2008) Heavy metal contamination and health risk assessment in the vicinity of the abandoned Songcheon Au-Ag mine in Korea. J Geochem Explor 96:223–230

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ma JH, Li C, Chen YZ (2011) Impacts of land use and economic growth on heavy metal pollution of urban soils: a case study of Kaifeng city. Acta Pedol Sin 48:743–750 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Man YB, Sun XL, Zhao YG, Lopez BN, Chung SS, Wu SC, Cheung KC, Wong MH (2010) Health risk assessment of abandoned agricultural soils based on heavy metal contents in Hong Kong, the world’s most populated city. Environ Int 36:570–576

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Melymuk L, Robson M, Helm PA, Diamond ML (2013) Application of land use regression to identify sources and assess spatial variation in urban svoc concentrations. Environ Pollut Control 47:1887–1895

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Michel V, Harm GVDG, Daan VM, Kees W, Herman JPE (2004) Automated and continuous redox potential measurements in soil. J Environ Qual 33:1562–1567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mielke HW, Conzales CR, Smith MK, Mielke PW (1999) The urban environment and children’s health: soils as an integrator of lead, zinc, and cadmium in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Environ Res 81:117–129

  • Morra P, Bagli S, Spadoni G (2006) The analysis of human health risk with a detailed procedure operating in a GIS environment. Environ Int 32:444–454

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mukwaturi M, Lin CX (2015) Mobilization of heavy metals from urban contaminated soils under water inundation conditions. J Hazard Mater 282:445–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan Y, Li H (2016) Investigating heavy metal pollution in mining brownfield and its policy implications: a case study of the Bayan obo rare earth mine, Inner Mongolia, China. Environ Manag 57:879–893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian Y, Gallagher FJ, Feng H, Wu MY (2012) A geochemical study of toxic metal translocation in an urban brownfield wetland. Environ Pollut 166:23–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qian Y, Gallagher FJ, Feng H, Wu MY, Zhu QZ (2014) Vanadium uptake and translocation in dominant plant species on an urban coastal brownfield site. Sci Total Environ 476-477:696–704

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen PE, Subramanian KS, Jessiman BJ (2001) A multi-element profile of house dust in relation to exterior dust and soils in the city of Ottawa, Canada. Sci Total Environ 267:125–140

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ren WX, Xue B, Geng Y, Sun LN, Ma ZX, Zhang YS et al (2014) Inventorying heavy metal pollution in redeveloped brownfield and its policy contribution: case study from Tiexi district, Shenyang, China. Land Use Policy 38:138–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seuly (2005) Love canal crisis in America. Environment 8:74–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Sierra C, Gallego JR, Afif E, Menendez-Aguado JM, Gonzalez-Coto F (2010) Analysis of soil washing effectiveness to remediate a brownfield polluted with pyrite ashes. J Hazard Mater 180:602–608

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith E, Naidu R, Alston AM (1998) Arsenic in the soil environment: a review. Adv Agron 64:149–195

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun LN, Geng Y, Sarkis J, Yang MM, Xi FM, Zhang YH et al (2013) Measurement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a Chinese brownfield redevelopment site: the case of Shenyang. Ecol Eng 53:115–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tong ZQ (2013) The effects on road-domain environment and migrating mechanism of traffic-source heavy metals: a case study of 310th national highway and 337th provincial highway. Dissertation, Henan University (in Chinese)

  • US EPA (1989) Risk assessment guidance for superfund, Vol. I. Human health evaluation, Office of Emergency and Remedial Response, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • US EPA (1996) Soil screening guidance: technical background document. Office of Soild Waste and Emergency Response, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • US EPA (2002) Supplemental guidance for developing soil screening levels for superfund sites. Office of Emergency and Remedial Response, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahsha M, Nadimi-Goki M, Bini C (2016) Land contamination by toxic elements in abandoned mine areas in Italy. J Soils Sediments 16:1300–1305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wcislo E, Lovon D, Kucharski R, Szdzuj J (2002) Human health risk assessment case study: an abandoned metal smelter site in Poland. Chemosphere 47:507–515

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xie J, Li FS (2010) Overview of the current situation on brownfield remediation and redevelopment in China. the World Bank, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y, Li S, Bi X, Wu P, Liu T, Li F, Liu C (2010) Lead, Zn, and Cd in slags, stream sediments, and soils in an abandoned Zn smelting region, southwest of China, and Pb and S isotopes as source tracers. J Soils Sediments 10:1527–1539

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang H, Huang X, Thompson JR, Flower RJ (2014) China’s soil pollution: urban brownfields. Science 344:691–692

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao L, Xu Y, Hou H, Shangguan Y, Li F (2014) Source identification and health risk assessment of metals in urban soils around the Tanggu chemical industrial district, Tianjin, China. Sci Total Environ 468-469:654–662

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng N, Liu JS, Wang QC, Liang ZZ (2010) Health risk assessment of heavy metal exposure to street dust in the zinc smelting district, northeast of China. Sci Total Environ 408:726–733

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 41171409, No. 41201211, and No. 41130525.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geographical Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Xing Chen, Min Liu, Xinran Liu & Abdul Qadeer

  2. Institute of Natural Resources and Environment, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Xing Chen, Jianhua Ma, Dexin Liu, Yanfang Chen & Yimeng Li

Authors
  1. Xing Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Min Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jianhua Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xinran Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dexin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yanfang Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yimeng Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Abdul Qadeer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianhua Ma.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Richard K. Shaw

Electronic supplementary material

Table S1

(PDF 2209 kb).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, X., Liu, M., Ma, J. et al. Health risk assessment of soil heavy metals in housing units built on brownfields in a city in China. J Soils Sediments 17, 1741–1750 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1625-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1625-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation