Abstract: To understand the characteristics of soil and groundwater pollution in a nonferrous smelting plant in Guangzhou, a survey of 13 soil and 5 groundwater samples was conducted. By the upper limit of the contents for heavy metals of China Environmental Quality Standard for Soils (GB15618-1995, Grade Ⅱ), the results show that compared with the soil standard, there exists serious pollution of Hg in soil samples, and that the concentration of Hg among the samples is even higher than the soil level Ⅲ standard, which indicates that the areas around the smelting plant are no longer suitable for farming. Though COD pollution exists in some groundwater samples, heavy metal indicators still meet the groundwater quality standard (GB/T 14848-93) class Ⅲ requirements. The soil and groundwater monitoring results show that the heavy metals of the smelting plant have not yet been transferred to groundwater. However, longterm monitoring still needs to be conducted to determine the mechanism and process of migration of heavy metals in contaminated sites. The research helps to provide necessary technical support for the remediation of contaminated sites and prevention of groundwater pollution.

Key words: non-ferrous metal smelting; contaminated sites; pollution characteristics