Source Identification of Lead Contamination in Residential and Undisturbed Soil Adjacent to a Battery Manufacturing Facility (Part I)

Abstract

Bulk elemental soil concentrations and individual particle analysis were used to identify the presence and sources of anthropogenic lead (Pb) contamination in residential and undisturbed soil adjacent to an automobile battery manufacturer. Automobile exhaust was also an important suspected source of Pb contamination in the soil of the residential area, a trailer park next to a busy highway. Soil was analyzed from the trailer park, battery facility, adjacent undisturbed wooded areas, and a roadside 2.4 km from the site. Also analyzed were trailer park attic dust and process material, dust, and air filters from the battery facility. Elemental concentrations in bulk soil indicated Pb levels of up to 2,760 and 3,860 mg/kg were the result of anthropogenic contamination in the residential and undisturbed wooded areas, respectively. Abundant Pb-bearing particles in air filters and attic dust, decreasing Pb concentrations with soil depth, and Pb particle size data indicated most of the Pb contamination in the residential and undisturbed wooded areas had undergone airborne transport. Antimony (Sb) and tin (Sn) in both bulk soil and individual Pb-bearing particles were key elements that linked Pb from the battery facility to Pb in the soil of the residential and undisturbed wooded areas. Finally, bulk elemental concentrations suggested automobile exhaust as the primary source of Pb contamination in the roadside soil.