Environment Soil, Air, and Water

Chromium is widely distributed in nature its concentrations vary from less than 0.1 pg m in air to as much as 3-4 g kg  

Merian (1984) suggested that more than 70% of chromium in the environment comes from man-made emissions, primarily from metal use. Historically, there has been widespread release of chromium into the environment, and recently numerous methods for environmental monitoring have evolved (Vitale et al. 1997). 

Concentrations of chromium species were determined in 89 rainwater samples collected in North Carolina. Average annual concentrations of chromium (total), particulate chromium, chromium(III) and chromium(VI) were 4.6, 2.2, 0.8, and 

respectively. This quantity of chromium represents almost complete removal by rain of chromium released into the global atmosphere (estimated at 2.2 x 10 mol year ) (Kieber et al. 2002). 

One environmental concern is that around the world there are landfill areas where over the years chromite ore processing residues (COPR) have been dumped, and chromium from these landfills is being leached into the ground water. The environmental impact of chromium in soils and sediments is dependent on specia-tion and on the response of the matrix to biological and physico-chemical conditions. These factors control the mobilization of chromium from the solid into the aquatic phase and uptake and transfer into living systems (Hursthouse 2001). 

---