Oral Bioaccessibility and Leaching: Tests for Soil Risk Assessment

Abstract

AbstractA set of test methods for estimating the risk for human health (oral bioaccessibility tests) and groundwater (leaching tests) was applied to contaminated soils from three sites with different sources of contamination. The bioaccessible soil concentrations of the contaminants cadmium, lead, nickel, benzo(a)pyrene and dibenz(a,h)anthracene were considerably lower than the total concentrations. The leached concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cadmium and nickel were below the EU drinking water and Danish groundwater criteria, whereas the leached lead concentrations were below the drinking water criteria but above the groundwater criteria. Based upon the test results, a risk assessment of the soils with respect to human health (oral exposure) and groundwater was established that reflected a reduced availability and mobility of PAH and heavy metals in the soils.