SUITMA 2005 Cairo - Husbandry risks on agricultural soils in the industrial and mining areas of the Czech Republic
SUITMA 2005 Cairo
| This abstract is about one of the papers of the Industrials, traffic, and mining pollution theme of the SUITMA 2005 symposium. |
| Radim Vácha.i |
- i - Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, Prague, Czech Republic.
Industrial, mining, and military areas are common in the Czech Republic. These areas represent potential risk for the agricultural production by hygienic standards due to combination of industrial and present or past mining activities. The largest industrial areas of the country are located in the North-Bohemian and the North-Moravian regions which were famous for mining brown and black coal. The North-Bohemian region was affected by the combustion of brown coal in power stations during many years, and the region was considered as part of the Central-European area called the black triangle. The increased contents of some hazardous elements (mainly As from brown coal combustion) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the soil are well-documented. The North-Moravian region with the mining of black coal is typical for its metallurgical industrial activities. The most serious problems are the increased contents of Cd and POPs (mainly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-PAHs and dibenzo-p-dioxines and dibenzofurans-PCDD/F) in the soils of the region. In addition, native land owners use the soil for the husbandry (gardens, crofts). The contents of hazardous elements and POPs (including PCDD/F) in selected soil samples are well-documented.
Another area of similar pollution is the Pribram district, where mining and treatment of ores was practised since the Middle Age. The serious contamination of the agricultural soils by Pb, Cd, and Zn was the subject of many investigations including this work.
Soil contamination by As in the Kutna Hora district represents typical past mining load caused by the spread of mining wastes in the vicinity of the Middle Age mining town of Kutna Hora. Consequently, potential contamination risks of plants, groundwater, and air (from dust particulates) represent a real hazard that needs much work to assess then alleviate.
