Lead pollution of shooting range soils

Critical assessment of mechanistic pathways for chemical remediation techniques applied to Pb impacted soils at shooting ranges – A review

“…It is important to note that, background soils samples taken near the TRR and MPR shooting ranges contained 1.83 mg/kg and 4.28 mg/kg of Pb, respectively. These values are comparable to Botswana (Southern Africa) studies whose background samples were found to have concentrations ranging between 2.5 and 17 mg/kg [12,58]. The background concentrations of Pb found are low and consistent with the composition of the earth's crust which normally occurs at 10-30 mg/kg giving an indication that the Pb pollution is still contained within the shooting ranges [59].…”

“…A similar study carried out by Sehube et al (2017) observed the same spatial distribution of Pb [12]. As anticipated, the berm soils collected the highest concentration of total Pb (38,386 mg/kg) while the target line accumulated 13,204 mg/kg and only 71 mg/kg was determined at the 50 m firing line [12]. However, the 100 m firing line defied the normal trend and accumulating total Pb concentrations (896 mg/kg) higher than at the 50 m firing line even though the 50 m firing line is closest to the impact berm.…”

“…Besides the age of a shooting range, the type of ammunition and frequency of use also has a bearing on Pb concentrations found at shooting ranges [58]. A similar study carried out by Sehube et al (2017) observed the same spatial distribution of Pb [12]. As anticipated, the berm soils collected the highest concentration of total Pb (38,386 mg/kg) while the target line accumulated 13,204 mg/kg and only 71 mg/kg was determined at the 50 m firing line [12].…”

“…In Nothern Zealand, Denmark, a study by Astrup et al (1999) unearthed about 70 kg Pb pellets from shooting range berm soil [7]. Recently, a similar study by Sehube et al (2017) determined total Pb concentration of 38,386 mg/kg in the berm soils of Thebephatshwa shooting range found in Botswana [12]. Other recent studies include those carried out in Norway [23], Nigeria [24] and South Korea [25] and total Pb concentrations in these studies exceeded the WHO set critical limit by 330, 169.8 and 186.1 times, respectively.…”

“…It has been reported that in countries such as the United States of America, Pb amounts exceeding 58,000 tons are deposited into the environment annually, in other countries including Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and UK metallic Pb ranging between 200 and 6,000 tons are deposited into the environment annually [5][6][7][8][9][10]. In Africa countries such as Nigeria have documented concentrations of about 5,600 mg/kg whilst in Botswana lead concentrations reaching 38,386 mg/kg have also been reported [11,12]. Despite its many preferable features for ammunition manufacture, Pb has been found to be harmful to both human and animal life.…”