Copper and its compounds were found at 906 of 1,647 hazardous waste sites on the NPL of highest
priority sites for possible remedial action (HazDat 2002). Since copper is commonly found in soil, it
should occur at all sites. In past work, data analysis of metal concentrations measured in soil from
hazardous waste sites taken from the 1980–1983 Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) Analytical Results
Data Base (CARD) was conducted to ascertain whether elemental concentrations at hazardous waste sites
were elevated above that which normally would be expected in soil of similar composition and derivation.
Of the 1,307 samples in CARD, 10.5 and 7.3% had copper concentrations exceeding the number normally
expected in soil at the 95 and 99% confidence intervals, respectively (Eckel and Langley 1988).
In a study in which the copper concentrations of 340 soil samples collected from diverse land-use
situations, the average copper concentrations reported were 25 ppm in agricultural land, 50 ppm in
suburban/residential land, 100 ppm in mixed industrial/residential land, and 175 ppm in industrial/inner
urban areas (Haines 1984). From an analysis of the spatial distribution of the copper concentrations in
soils where lowest copper soil concentrations are observed for rural (agricultural) soils and highest in
soils obtained from industrialized urban areas, it was concluded that most of the contamination was a
result of airborne deposition from industrial sources.
The concentration of copper in soils and sediments was assessed as part of the National Water-Quality
Assessment Program (Rice 1999). The median concentrations of copper at 541 sites throughout the
conterminous United States ranged from 5 to 70 µg/g (dry weight). At nonurban indicator sites, the
median concentrations ranged from 13 to 47 µg/g. The same study derived an average crustal abundance
of copper of 60 µg/g.
Sediment is an important sink and reservoir for copper. In areas where there is no known input of copper
obtained from anthropogenic sources, sediment generally contains