Problem statement

Soil Contamination

Soil contamination is the occurrence of pollutants in soil above a certain level causing a deterioration or loss of one or more soil functions.  Also, Soil Contamination can be considered as the presence of man-made chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. This type of contamination typically arises from the rupture of underground storage tanks, application of pesticides, and percolation of contaminated surface water to subsurface strata, leaching of wastes from landfills or direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil. The most common chemicals involved are petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, lead and other heavy metals. The occurrence of this phenomenon is correlated with the degree of industrialization and intensity of chemical usage. (European Commision Joint Research Centre 2014)

Source of soils contamination

Due to the wide range of contaminant, soil and site condition, the level of possible contaminant will be depend on the specific conditions of a particular property (Shayler, McBride and Harrison 2009). Several type of soil pollution can be from:

• ·         Lead paint
• ·         Pesticide
• ·         Industrial/ commercial site
• ·         High traffic
• ·         Treated lumber
• ·         Automobile or machine repair/ junk vehicle storage
• ·         Furniture refinishing
• ·         Landfill/ garbage dump
• ·         Fire
• ·         Fertilizer

Chemical compound that mostly can create soil pollution are:

• ·         Petroleum hydrocarbons
• ·         Pesticides
• ·         Solvents
• ·         Heavy metal

Contamination of soils by heavy metals

The accumulation of heavy metal in surface soil is affected by many environmental variables including parent material and soil properties, as well as by human activities such as industrial production, traffic, farming and irrigation (Yuanan, et al. 2013). Heavy metal is a significant environmental problem worldwide (Alloway 1995). Uncontrolled of process or activities can lead to heavy metal contamination. Among environmental pollution, metal are of particular concern due to the potential toxic affect and its ability to be accumulate in aquatic ecosystem (Censi, et al. 2006)