Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most serious soil contaminants in China, and it poses an increasing risk to human health as large amounts of Cd are emitted into the environment. However, knowledge about soil Cd concentrations and the human health risks of these concentrations at a national scale is limited. In this study, we conducted a review of 190 articles about soil Cd concentrations during 2001 to 2010. The study involved 146 cities in China, and we quantified the risks to human health according to different regions. The results showed that elevated Cd levels were present compared to the background value of soil in 1990, and the soil Cd concentrations in the Guangxi province exceeded even the class III Soil Environmental Quality standard, which is the limit for the normal growth of plants. The Chinese soil Cd concentrations ranged from 0.003 mg kg(-1) to 9.57 mg kg(-1). The soil Cd concentrations had the following trend: northwest > southwest > south central > east > northeast > north. The sources of soil Cd are mainly from smelting, mining, waste disposal, fertilizer and pesticide application, and vehicle exhaust, etc. but differentiated in various regions. The soil Cd contamination in urban areas was more serious than contamination in the agricultural areas. Currently, there is no significant non-carcinogenic risk in any of the provinces. Regarding the different exposure pathways, the dermal pathway is the primary source of soil Cd exposure, and the risk associated with this pathway is generally hundreds of times higher than the risk for an ingestion pathway. For most of the provinces, the health risk to the urban population was higher than the risk to the rural population. For each population, the carcinogenic risk was less than 10(-6) in most of the provinces, except for the urban population in the Hunan province. If the other exposure pathways are fully considered, then the people in these areas may have a higher carcinogenic risk. This review provides a comprehensive assessment of soil Cd pollution in China, and it identifies policy recommendations for pollution mitigation and environmental management in the relevant regions.

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Nitrate pollution in aquatic systems caused by intensive agricultural activities is a serious problem in the Sanjiang Plain. In this study, a dual isotope approach (δ(15)N-NO3(-) and δ(18)O-NO3(-)) was employed to identify potential nitrate sources (atmospheric deposition, AD; NO3(-) derived from soil organic matter nitrification, NS; NO3(-) derived from chemical fertilizer nitrification, NF; and manure and sewage, M&S) and transformation processes occurring in the Abujiao River watershed located in the Sanjiang Plain. The Bayesian model (stable isotope analysis in R, SIAR) was utilized to apportion the contribution of the potential sources. In this watershed, the nitrate concentrations in the surface water were low (mean ± SD = 1.15 ± 0.84 mg L(-1)), and were greatly influenced by precipitation and land use conditions during the two sampling periods (the high flow period, September; the low flow period, November). On the contrary, in the ground water, high NO3(-) concentrations were observed (7.84 ± 5.83 mg L(-1)) and no significant temporal variation in NO3(-) was found during the sampling periods. The sampled water δ(18)O-NO3(-) values suggest that the nitrification process was not the main N cycling process, because most of the measured δ(18)O-NO3(-) values were above the expected δ(18)O-NO3(-) from nitrification throughout the sampling periods. Both the chemical and isotopic characteristics indicated that the signs of de-nitrification were absent in the surface water. However, significant de-nitrification processes were observed in the ground water for all sample periods. Results from the SIAR model showed that source contributions differed significantly during the two sampling periods. During the high flow period, chemical fertilizers and soil N fertilizer equally contributed to the major sources of nitrate in the surface water. In contrast, manure and sewage sources dominated the source contribution during the low flow period (November). This study suggested that with the assessment of the behaviors and sources of NO3(-), effective nitrate reduction strategies and better management practices can be implemented to protect water quality.