12/13/2023 0 Comments Outdoor shooting range![]() Risks to human health also appear when sensitive areas such as agricultural sites are located in the vicinity of an operating shooting range or if the land use of a range is changed after the termination of shooting activity. Unfortunately, in some countries, such areas tend to be important groundwater catchment areas commonly used for household water supply. ![]() It is also quite common that particularly rifle ranges have been established in sandy esker areas. The impact area of a shooting range can also include a whole freshwater system that thereby is-together with soil-the primary recipient of the contaminants present in ammunition. Therefore, risks to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are present. Although the soil generally receives the primary contaminant load at shooting ranges, there is also a risk to groundwater and surface water pollution due to contaminant transport from soil by leaching or runoff. The scale and type of contamination varies in different shooting ranges owing to differences in the type of shooting, range management practices, length of operating time, frequency and number of visits, number of rounds shot by each visitor, and environmental characteristics of the site. Correspondingly, in the United States there are approximately 9000 nonmilitary outdoor ranges and estimated 700 military sites. Only some 200 of these are military ranges managed by the armed forces. In Finland, the estimated number of abandoned and active outdoor shooting ranges totals more than 2000 corresponding to approximately 10% of all the potentially contaminated sites. Moreover, data on military ranges are seldom publicly available. Nevertheless, this article focuses on the civilian shooting ranges since they form the majority of all ranges in most countries. Therefore, from the viewpoint of postoperational risk management, military sites pose a real challenge owing to the diversity of the contaminants that comprise heavy metals, alkaline earth metals, metalloids, and various organic compounds belonging to the chemical groups of nitramines and nitroaromatics. This energy store is exploited in explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnic products used in military munitions. Compared to civilian shooting ranges, at military sites the number of contaminants is higher involving energetic compounds, that is, compounds with high amount of stored chemical energy. At these sites, metals and some metalloids are the major chemicals producing environmental pollution, lead (Pb) being the most common contaminant. Outdoor small-arms shooting ranges act as important practice sites particularly for hunters and competitors of different shooting sports. This contamination arises from the long operating times, which often extend to several decades or even over a century, as well as insufficient risk management measures. Shooting practiced at outdoor shooting ranges is a source of considerable environmental pollution that has created heavily contaminated sites in many countries. Sorvari, in Encyclopedia of Environmental Health (Second Edition), 2019 Introduction
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