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Road Dust as a Significant Radiocesium Transporter from Land to River

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Abstract

This study made it clear that road dust plays an important role for Cs-137 dynamics emitted by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. It was proved from the Cs-137 and heavy metals determination in road dust, drainage gutter sediment beside pavement, and riverbed sediment around the inflow point of the gutter. Road dust and drainage gutter sediment contained significantly higher concentrations of Cs-137 and Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, and Pb than riverbed sediment. These heavy metals are typically enriched in road dust in general and originate in anthropogenic sources. Concentrations of Cs-137 and the heavy metals were higher in riverbed sediments at the inflow point of drainage than in non-inflow points. Drainage gutter sediments exhibited Cs-137 and heavy metal accumulation at the downmost of the gutter, which is the inflow point into the river. Accordingly, distribution of Cs-137 and the heavy metals concentrations were consistent with each other. Moreover, the concentrations of Cs-137 and heavy metals were correlated positively and significantly, with different proportions between sampling sites but similar between sample type and survey date. This indicates that the discharge of Cs-137 and heavy metals is characteristic of the features of the locations, such as Cs-137 and heavy metals concentrations, (micro-) topography, structure of the road and gutter, pavement area, traffic density, and so on. We conclude that road dust is a major medium of Cs-137 transport from land into aquatic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the local nonprofit organization Yuuki-no-sato Towa Furusato-dukuri Kyogikai and its secretary-general, Mr. Masatoshi Muto, for supporting the on-site survey. The owners of local guest houses kindly hosted our stay. Part of this work was financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) KAKENHI (Grant Number 18K11675). The authors also thank Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science on Biosphere, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Hirokazu Ozaki, Riko Inamochi, Hiroyuki Takahashi, Hikaru Takahashi, Yuta Hara, Takashi Tokumaru, Chie Watai & Izumi Watanabe

  2. Department of International Environmental and Agricultural Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Takashi Gomi

  3. Fukushima Branch, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, 10-2 Fukasaku, Miharu, Tamura District, Fukushima, 963-7700, Japan

    Hirokazu Ozaki

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  1. Hirokazu Ozaki
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  2. Riko Inamochi
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  9. Izumi Watanabe
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Correspondence to Hirokazu Ozaki.

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Ozaki, H., Inamochi, R., Takahashi, H. et al. Road Dust as a Significant Radiocesium Transporter from Land to River. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 79, 39–48 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00738-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00738-7

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