Evaluation of soil contamination in the surroundings of Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML) industrial area in Kollam District, Kerala, South India

Toxic trace metals concentration in soil exerts a decisive impact on soil quality in an industrial area. In recent days, industrialization is growing at very faster rate than any other activities. Due to industrialization, the pollution load for water, air and soil is increasing day by day. Metal pollution in soil possess a serious threat to the human health and safety of agricultural production. An attempt is made here to study soil contamination due to industrial effluents and air pollutants in the surroundings of KMML (Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd.) industrial area in Chavara, Kerala. To find out the soil pollution from the solid and liquid wastes produced due to the manufacturing process of titanium dioxide in the KMML industry, a detailed analysis was conducted on the physico-chemical characteristics of soil samples collected from the surrounding areas. The study on the physical and chemical characteristics of soil in the selected stations of KMML industrial area shows that soils are acidic in nature and the concentration of nutrients like organic carbon, organic matter, nitrogen, total phosphorus, sodium in the study stations near the industry were less than that of the control soils. The present study revealed that the heavy metal concentrations in all the study stations were high compared to the control station. The study shows that the soils in the surroundings of industrial area are contaminated with toxic elements than its normal distribution.   Key words: Soil pollution, heavy metals, industrial area, Kerala minerals and metals limited (KMML)