Soil Contamination

Another type of contamination is soil contamination. This can occur with ground water contamination but also can occur when streams or other bodies of water are contaminated with heavy metals or chemicals. When areas flood, these heavy metals and chemicals are deposited on an individual's property and thus contaminate the soil. People can be exposed to these contaminants in the following ways: skin contact (walking on the soil or gardening); inhalation (creating dust in the yard or tracking dust into the home); ingestion (eating vegetables grown in the soil).

What kind of contamination is it?

Soil contamination is either solid or liquid hazardous substances mixed with the naturally occurring soil. Usually, contaminants in the soil are physically or chemically attached to soil particles, or, if they are not attached, are trapped in the small spaces between soil particles.

How did it get there?

Soil contamination results when hazardous substances are either spilled or buried directly in the soil or migrate to the soil from a spill that has occurred elsewhere. For example, soil can become contaminated when small particles containing hazardous substances are released from a smokestack and are deposited on the surrounding soil as they fall out of the air. Another source of soil contamination could be water that washes contamination from an area containing hazardous substances and deposits the contamination in the soil as it flows over or through it.

How does it hurt animals, plants and humans?

Contaminants in the soil can hurt plants when they attempt to grow in contaminated soil and take up the contamination through their roots. Contaminants in the soil can adversely impact the health of animals and humans when they ingest, inhale, or touch contaminated soil, or when they eat plants or animals that have themselves been affected by soil contamination. Animals ingest and come into contact with contaminants when they burrow in contaminated soil. Humans ingest and come into contact with contaminants when they play in contaminated soil or dig in the soil as part of their work. Certain contaminants, when they contact our skin, are absorbed into our bodies. When contaminants are attached to small surface soil particles, they can become airborne as dust and can be inhaled.