Ecological risk of contamination of urban soils with heavy metals using the example of Dnipro city (Ukraine)

. Identifying interrelation between the ecological risk of urban soils contamination with heavy metals and health indicators solves the essential task of forecasting environmental threat to the population. The research was conducted using the example of the urban ecosystem of the city of Dnipro, where a network of key soil sampling areas was formed by applying a grid of 2 km × 2 km. The area of sampling was about 200 m2 . The gross content of metals in the soil was measured after its acid treatment on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. In the study, the data on soil contamination with heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni) and statistical measures of public health was used. The ecological risk due to element and polyelement contamination of the soils of the Dnipro urban ecosystem with heavy metals was identified, considering the three ways of their intake (by swallowing, inhalation, through the skin). It was found that the greatest environmental threat is caused by soil contamination with lead, so the ecological risk was unacceptable and mostly high throughout the city of Dnipro. Taking into account the polyelement nature of the pollution, the ecological risk was identified as unacceptable, mostly average, and in some cases as high. The correlation between the state of health of the population and the quality of the environment of the Dnipro urban ecosystem under technology-driven stress was established on the basis of correlation coefficients between the values of ecological risk, mortality rate and the number of cases of cancer.