This study investigated a treatment method using hydrated lime to reduce Pb-polluted soil loss and Pb leaching from the soil in the berms of two military shooting ranges. We used hydrated lime as the soil amendment and conducted an artificial rainfall experiment for the investigation. During the rainfall simulation, the soil loss reduction rates of the amended soil were 20% and 47% for the two ranges due to the improvement of soil particulate aggregates. In a comparison of Pb concentration, the sediments were 25% and 34% higher than the residual soils. This indicates that fine soil particulates, having higher specific surface area for pollutants adsorption, must be controlled to prevent pollution spread. Pb in runoff waters was detected only in a shooting range which had a higher concentration in the soil. Therefore polluted soil particulate loss is the major mechanism rather than pollutant leaching in terms of pollution spread. In this shooting range, Pb concentration of runoff water from amended soil was 35% lower than that of the control soil due to the stabilization effect of lime precipitation. Pb concentrations of the residual soils by SPLP (synthetic precipitation leaching procedure) also indicated the stabilization effect with a reduction of 63% and 56%, respectively. Overall results suggested that reducing soil particulate loss and stabilization of polluted soils using hydrated lime could be a key method for the sustainable management of military shooting ranges.

Keywords: military shooting range, lead, berm, rainfall simulation, runoff water