Health Risk Assessment and Remediation Suggestion for Lead Contaminated Soil in a Lead-acid Battery Factory of Shandong Province

Abstract

Lead is one of the heavy metals which are poisonous to human being, and lead-acid battery is a vital sources for lead pollution. With the development of economics and improvement of environmental consciousness of public, the relocation policy for enterprise was proposed and old factories had to move to the suburban area. The site of a demolished lead-acid factory in Shandong province was investigated and the health risk of lead for human being was assessed by Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) model. 87 soil samples were collected and the detection results of the sampling sites demonstrated that the soil had been polluted seriously, lead content of 62.1% of the soil samples have exceeded the standard level (600 mg/kg), and 11.5% of the samples have exceeded the standard limit for 10 times. Health risk assessment result confirmed that 70% of the soil samples have serious threat to children’s health, and the investigated site needed to be remediated urgently. Solidification/Stabilization technique was recommended to remediate the lead contaminated soil. This study provided a relative integrated procedure to monitor and assess the health risk of lead contaminated soil for human being, which has a vital reference significance to the future investigation for lead contaminated sites.