Assessment of soil contamination at playgrounds in residential areas

Abstract

Introduction. Heavy metal pollution of soils in urban areas is a severe problem in many regions of Russia and other countries. The higher concentrations of heavy metals in playground soils represent a severe threat to children’s health. The lack of legislatively approved decisions on periodic monitoring of soil contamination in residential areas and on remediation measures does not ensure a favourable ecological situation in the urban environment. Materials and methods. The mass spectrometry method was used to analyse the gross content of heavy metals and arsenic in playground soils in residential areas of the Industrialny district of Perm in 2019. Results. The assessment of soil contamination with heavy metals and arsenic in the soils of playgrounds of residential areas of the Industrialny district of Perm indicated their unsatisfactory quality. The concentration of arsenic in the soil exceeded the MPC by up to 4.6 times, zinc-2.6 times; nickel-3.5 times; cadmium-1.7 times; copper-1.5 times. The total indicator of contamination of Zс and Zст of the soil corresponds to the permissible level. The level of soil contamination with heavy metals ranges from “low” to “moderate” based on the indicator of potential environmental risk. Limitations. The limitations of the study are related to the small number of soil samples on the territory of playgrounds and one-time sampling, which limits the interpretation of the data obtained to determine trends in soil pollution, as well as the absence of identified patterns of contaminants in soils from different sources of their inflow. Conclusion. The results suggest that it is necessary to monitor soil contamination in residential areas and implement timely remediation measures; it is necessary to make decisions at the legislative level on the soil quality management in residential areas to ensure a favourable ecological environment, taking into account domestic and foreign experience.