Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals lead, zinc and cadmium in the Lakan lead and zinc company

Today, the implementation of industrial development programs without considering environmental considerations, has led to the continued entry of pollutants into the environment. Currently, industrial pollution is considered the main cause of environmental degradation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the ecological risk of toxic metals lead, zinc, and cadmium in the Lakan lead and zinc processing company.

After organizing and standardizing the data using GIS, ecological risk assessment and also the environmental risk index of toxic metals in the study area were estimated.

The results of the ecological risk assessment showed that among the studied toxic metals, cadmium metal has the lowest risk (0.01% of the area in the high-risk class) and zinc has the highest risk (0.02% of the area in the high-risk class). Also, the results of the environmental risk index assessed 99% of the region in terms of cadmium metal risk in the low-risk category and 92% of the region in terms of zinc risk in the critical class, and lead metal was in the intermediate status.

In conclusion, it can be stated that following industrialization, the spread of industrial pollution is inevitable, but methods and measures have been used to mitigate and reduce their consequences. One of the important methods in reducing the effects of environmental pollution is ecological risk assessment. Therefore, considering the capabilities of GIS systems in the preparation of environmental assessment maps, it seems that this system can be useful in facilitating the assessment of the ecological vulnerability of metal mining industries.