Monitoring of soil quality in industrial zones of the Vojvodina province

Abstract

During the autumn of 2002, soil samples were taken from industrial zones located in several major cities in the Province of Vojvodina (Novi Sad Pančevo, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Sombor and Vrbas). The study was a part of a project titled "Monitoring of Environment Quality and Formation of Information Subsystems for Quality Level of Nonagricultural Soils in the Vojvodina Province" carried out by the Secretariat for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The soil was sampled by soil probes at the depth of 0-30 cm in the immediate vicinity of various factories. The values of the basic chemical soil properties did not deviate much from the usual values for the surrounding local agricultural soils, so no pollution could be reported. The total level of trace elements and heavy metals did not exceed the maximum tolerable concentration at most of the sites. At a few sites where these values were higher, the reasons for such an increase were natural (geochemical), or, in case of one site, anthropogenic. Therefore, when evaluating the levels of trace elements and heavy metals in the soil, pedogenetical processes of the soil formation and development must be taken into account and correct conclusions concerning a potential pollution can be made only after a detailed analysis of their forms in the soil. The levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were low in all but one of the sites (the PAH content did exceed the risk threshold). The initial results of these analyses that can now be used as the basis for further monitoring of quality of industrial soils. The monitoring of the parameters from the study is necessary because of the nature of certain pollutants (degradability, leaching), as well as, because of a possible new pollution.

U toku jeseni 2002. godine uzorkovano je zemljište većih industrijskih zona gradova Vojvodine u okviru projekta Sekreterijata za zaštitu životne sredine i održivi razvoj Izvršnog Veća AP Vojvodine. Utvrđeno je da vrednosti osnovnih hemijskih svojstava zemljišta ne odstupaju od vrednosti uobičajenih za poljoprivredna zemljišta. Ukupni sadržaj mikroelemenata i teških metala na najvećem broju lokacija je ispod vrednosti maksimalno dozvoljenih količina. Na lokacijama gde su vrednosti više uzrok je prirodnog geohemijskog porekla, osim u jednom slučaju gde je uzrok antropogeno delovanje. Sadržaj policikličnih aromatičnih ugljovodonika je na niskom nivou, osim na jednom lokalitetu na kojem je ispod granice najmanjeg rizika.