Environmental Risk Assessment of the Soil Contamination

Abstract

Increasing industrial activities and the lack of appropriate measures to counteract its effects are causing a progressive pollution of air, water and soil with heavy metal emissions. Studies have shown that after the downturn of the industrial activity of metallurgical plant, as is in case of the industrial platform of Targoviste (Romania), heavy metals do not persist in air or water, but tend to concentrate especially in soil and sediment. The heavy metal concentration exceeding the threshold in soil can be considered as risk for human health and remediation technics should be applied to decrease the metal content in soil. The classical methods of soil remediation are expensive and some of them involve the removal of huge volume of soil. An alternative of such methods are the bioremediation methods which involve only eco-friendly materials and procedures, lead to metal recovery with minimal impact on the environment and are cost-effective.