heavy metals in bee forage

I guess I was aware of this but thought it was mainly (worse) in more seriously contaminated areas and have hoped it was not the same problem when reclaiming vacant lots and old house sites...not so sure anymore?

https://guardian.gyford.com/

Researchers from the University of Cambridge found that common plants including white clover and bindweed, which are vital forage for pollinators in cities, can accumulate arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead from contaminated soils.

These metals have been found in previous studies to damage the health of bees and other pollinators, which feed on the contaminated nectar. This leads to reduced population sizes and death. Even low metal levels in nectar can hinder bees’ learning and memory, which degrades their foraging abilities.

The contaminated soils tend to be on land previously used for buildings and factories, which have leached these pollutants into the land. The scientists who carried out the study are now recommending that urban areas are tested for contaminants and potentially cleaned before wildflowers are planted.

thoughts?

I've been casually learning land reclamation techniques keeping an eye at remediating soils with lead content. The village that I live in has a bunch of contaminated properties listed with lead due to products utilized in the past (Paint mainly) flaking into the surrounding soil.

Lead is tricky. The two approaches that are 'generally' seen are to physically remove the lead contamination (scrape soil) or to alter the soil conditions to attempt to immobilize the lead.

I've read of the utilization of plants or fungi to trap toxic gick that then can be removed from the area but I'm unaware of how effective the process is. This is further complicated by reports such as this where bees or other pollinators might be effected from that type of technique as well.