Abstract
A shortage of land in some urban areas has resulted in the use of hydro corridors for garden plots. Corrosion of the galvanized steel towers (hydro towers) which support electrical transmission lines causes Zn contamination of soils and may result in uptake and concentration of the metal by plants. Furthermore, the Zn used in hot dip galvanizing may be contaminated with Cd. To determine if vegetables accumulate and are affected by Zn and Cd corroded from hydro towers, soil was collected from near hydro towers, to grow lettuce and radish in a glasshouse pot experiment. Plants grown in soil collected 1 m from a tower had concentrations of Zn 5 to 10 times higher than in plants grown in garden soil collected 10 and 90 m from a tower but concentrations were not high enough to have apparent toxic effects on growth. Concentrations of Cd in the soils, lettuce and radish plants indicated that the particular towers were not a source of Cd contamination.
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Jones, R. Zinc and cadmium in lettuce and radish grown in soils collected near electrical transmission (hydro) towers. Water Air Soil Pollut 19, 389–395 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00159600
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00159600