Study on metal concentrations and their stable isotopes in stormwater runoff and road dust as tracers of metal pollution sources

Abstract

Shihwa industrial complex is one of the largest national industrial complexes in Korea and consists of the small enterprises and light industry (19,182 facilities). In previous study, the concentration of Cr, Cu, Pb and Hg from Siheung stream was much higher than other streams through the industrial complex. Although the most significant metals pollution sources are industrial activities, there are no research to trace and manage these metal pollutants. To identify and tracemetal pollution sources in Siheung stream, metal concentrations in the stormwater runoff from the sewer outlet during rainfall event and road dust from land basin were analyzed by using seaFAST SP3 system (ESI, Elemental scientific) with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (NexION 2000, Perkin Elmer) for dissolved phase and ICP-MS (iCAPQ, Thermo Scientific) for particulate phase, respectively. All results had in good agreement with certified values for SLRS-6 and MESS-4 CRMs. For the dissolved phase of stormwater runoff, Zn had the highest value about 438 ug/L in the following order of Cu (318 ug/L)>Pb (2.1 ug/L). Average concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb in particulate phase were 17,151mg/kg, 9,921mg/kg and 2,390mg/kg. These results suggested that significant metal pollution sources could exist in the study region. Since dissolved metals in stormwater runoffs are closely linked to the potential metal source, characteristics of metals deso