Certainly, the area is not considered to be a playground;
however, many children are playing near the
fields while their parents are working at fields.
Furthermore, the residues from the tanneries contain
light organic materials, which have a high potential
by inhalation to contribute largely to heavy metal
accumulation in humans and livestock, especially
during the summer month where the dispersion of
dust in the atmosphere is high.
4. Conclusions
– The results prove the anthropogenic impact on Pb,
Cu and Zn concentrations in the soils of the
Damascus Ghouta. The highest values can be
found in the city of Damascus, but also the central
Barada area shows increased Pb, Cu and Zn
concentrations due to irrigation with effluent from
Damascus city for many decades.
– Considering particularly the high metal binding
capacity of the soils, heavy metals uptake by
human and livestock in the Damascus Ghouta can
be categorized as rather marginal, except for the
tannery industrial estate. Nevertheless, further
pollution should be minimised. Traffic in Damascus
as a major pollution source has a high
potential for the reduction of heavy metal pollution
in the future.
– The Cr pollution found in the soils near the tannery
industrial estate is potentially serious even taking
into account the immobility of Cr in soil.
– With regards to health risks, bioavailability and
mobility of heavy metals can be stated to be of
minor significant in these soils. Other pathways
like inhalation of dust and direct ingestion seem to
be more important for the heavy metal uptake by
the population of Damascus city.
Acknowledgements
The project was funded by the Federal Minister for
Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.
The Authors acknowledge the contribution of The
Arab Center of the Studies of the Arid Zones and Dry
Lands and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian
Reform of Syria to the project.