Assessment of soil and Groundwater Contamination by Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Russian and Indian Megacities

Abstract

A comparative assessment of heavy metal and metalloids pollution in soils and groundwater was carried out at the key sites in two megacities, i.e., Hyderabad (India) and Moscow (Russia), as a part of Indo-Russian collaborative research project. The geological structure, hydrogeological conditions and contamination of soils and groundwater were studied at the key sites and contaminants migration in the vadoze zone and groundwater was simulated. The results of statistical analysis prove that at the key site in Hyderabad the elevated concentrations of some chemical elements leading to soil pollution with heavy metals (i.e. Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) are related to technogenic and industrial activities. The modeling of ground- and surface water contamination showed that the area of sewage influence on groundwater is limited and that there is no hazard of river water contamination in the long-term perspective1. The fill ground and ancient alluvium at the key site in Mоscow manifest the multi-element (Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd, Mn, Cr, As, oil products) contamination of soil, which is substantially variable both by depth and area. The modeling results permitted assessing the hazard of contaminated soils as the secondary long-acting source of groundwater contamination. The geological structure and hydrogeological differences between the key sites determined the use of different models for the investigation of heavy metals migration in the vadoze zone and in the aquifers.