Topic Index | Contact Us | Search

Ecology home > HWTR home > Demolition Debris > Dangerous Waste Soil Contamination

Dangerous Waste Soil Contamination

• Lead Contamination
• Mercury Contamination
• More Information about Dangerous Waste Contaminants in Soil

• Contacts for the Toxics Cleanup Program

Ecology's Dangerous Waste Program regulates dangerous waste spills that happen at a job site.

Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program regulates cleanup of soil with past contamination.

Lead paint flaking off the outside of buildings because of weathering or human intervention and lead from vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions accumulate in and contaminate the soil around buildings.

A Toxics Cleanup Program publication estimates normal lead levels for uncontaminated soil in different areas of the state :

Natural Background Soil Metals Concentration in Washington State, #94-115, October 1994

Top

Mercury accumulates in the soil around buildings because of paint flaking or from old paint spills. Flaking can be caused by demolition, weathering or surface preparation for painting.

Top

In contrast to natural background levels, the concentration of "lead in street dust and surface soil ranged from 1600 to 2400 milligrams per kilogram" in a 1972 NAS study of 77 Midwestern cities. The same study reported the "natural background level of lead in soil ranges from 2 to 200 milligrams per kilogram". Soil "near a lead mine in Idaho reached 20,000 milligrams (of lead) per kilogram". Grass samples near high traffic roads ranged from "250 milligrams per kilogram at the roadside to about 100 milligrams per kilogram at a distance of 25 meters from the road". NAS (1972) Airborne Lead in Perspective, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C. quoted by Tsuchiya, K. in Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, Volume II, p 309. Friberg, L., Nordberg, G., Vouk, V. (Editors.) Elsevier, New York 1986.

Total Materials Consumption, An Estimation Methodology and Example Using Lead -- A Materials Flow Analysis is available from the US Geological Survey website at http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/circulars/c1183/ Exit Ecology

Mercury is normally present in the soil in low amounts from natural sources such as volcanic eruptions. An estimated 1000 metric tons a year in the United States comes from natural sources. Natural sources are estimated to provide a large volume of mercury but very small amounts in any given area. Mercury from human activities are thought to add smaller total volumes, but that are more heavily deposited in local areas. The Materials Flow of Mercury in the United States, US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines Information Circular IC 9412, 1994, estimates 1990 U.S. environmental mercury releases from the leading human activities:

• Mining and metal processing - 100 mt/yr (metric tons per year)
• Fossil fuel combustion (coal and oil burning) - 175 mt/yr
• The manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda - all reused within the industry
• The manufacture, use and disposal of consumer products (electric lamps, batteries, switches and paint) - 938 mt/yr