Relationship between soil lead and airborne lead concentrations at Springfield, Missouri, USA

This study tests whether lead deposited to soil from automobiles during pas t years in a medium-sized US city (population 150 000) may present a curren t health risk. It examines the relationship between current soil lead conce ntrations at nine locations within the city of Springfield, Missouri, and a irborne lead levels measured at the same locations during years (1975-1981) when lead emissions from automobiles were much greater than at present. A strong, significant correlation is found between soil and airborne lead lev els at eight of the sites (r = 0.91, P < 0.005 for soil lead vs. 1979 airbo rne lead), in low-traffic areas as well as in areas adjacent to heavy traff ic flow. Residual lead concentrations in these soils are relatively low, ev en for the high-traffic sites, as expected for a medium sized city. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.