Distribution of lead in urban roadway grit and its association with elevated steel structures

In an effort to determine the source of exterior lead contamination, we investigated the concentration of lead in roadway grit along major thoroughfares in New York City and in certain areas under elevated steel structures supporting elevated rails. Such structures represent only one source of lead...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemosphere (Oxford) 2006-12, Vol.65 (10), p.1762-1771
Main Authors: Weiss, Arlene L., Caravanos, Jack, Blaise, Marc J., Jaeger, Rudolph J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants - analysis
Applied sciences
Architecture
Deposition
Dust
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Environmental Monitoring
Exact sciences and technology
Lead
Lead - analysis
New York City
Particle Size
Pollution
Pollution sources. Measurement results
Pollution, environment geology
Roadway
Soil
Soil and sediments pollution
Soil Pollutants - analysis
Steel
Steel structures
Urbanization
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Summary:In an effort to determine the source of exterior lead contamination, we investigated the concentration of lead in roadway grit along major thoroughfares in New York City and in certain areas under elevated steel structures supporting elevated rails. Such structures represent only one source of lead in roadway grit. While data revealed that the median lead concentration in roadway grit did not exceed the standard for a lead hazard in bare residential soil in any borough, the limit of 400 μg/g was exceeded 22%, 18%, 10.5%, and 7.7% of the time in Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens, respectively. The second part of the study revealed the presence of high concentrations of lead in roadway grit directly under elevated steel structures. The differences in the concentration of lead in roadway grit under steel structures in comparison to areas in NYC not near elevated rails was statistically significant. Of the eight sites studied from 225 total samples, the median roadway grit lead level was 340 ppm, while the level under steel structures was 1480 ppm. Preliminary efforts to determine particle size distribution revealed that 84% of the particles were in the range of 125–500 μm, but the highest concentration of lead was in the smallest fraction analyzed (
ISSN:0045-6535
1879-1298
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.04.079