Contamination level, source identification and health risk evaluation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in groundwater of an industrial city in eastern India

Anthropogenic activities performed in the Ecuadorian Amazon have released potentially toxic elements (PTEs) into the rivers, causing severe environmental pollution and increasing the risk of exposure to the residents of the surrounding areas. This study aims to carry out a human health risk assessment using deterministic and probabilistic methods to estimate the hazard index (HI) and total cancer risk (TCR) related to multi-pathway human exposure to PTEs in polluted rivers. Concentrations of Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn in surface water and sediment samples from rivers on the Ecuadorian Amazon were considered to assess the potential adverse human health effects. As a result, deterministic and probabilistic estimations of cancer and non-cancer risk through exposure to surface waters and sediments were above the safety limit. A sensitivity analysis identified the concentration of PTEs and the exposure duration (ED) as the two most important variables for probabilistic health risk assessment. The highest risk for receptors was related to exposure to polluted sediments through incidental ingestion and dermal contact routes. According to the deterministic estimation, the human health risk through ingestion of water was above the threshold in specific locations. This study reveals the potential health risk to which the population is exposed. This information can be used as a baseline to develop public strategies to reduce anthropogenic pollution and exposure to PTEs in Ecuadorian Amazon rivers.

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Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in Soils and Bulbs of Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum L.) Grown in Valdichiana, a Traditional Cultivation Area of Tuscany, Italy

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11157023 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (15) ◽

pp. 7023

Author(s):

Vannini Andrea ◽

Martina Grattacaso ◽

Giulia Canali ◽

Francesco Nannoni ◽

Luigi Antonello Di Lella ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Risk ◽

Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽

Toxic Elements ◽

Daily Intake ◽

Potentially Toxic Elements ◽

Time Data ◽

Allium Ampeloprasum ◽

Inductively Coupled ◽

Risk Indices ◽

High Concentrations

The aim of this study was to provide, for the first time, data on the concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in soils and bulbs of elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum L.) cultivated in Valdichiana, a traditional agricultural area of Tuscany, Italy. Bulbs of elephant garlic and soil samples were collected in four cultivation fields and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, Tl, U, V, Zn. The concentrations of these PTEs in bulbs and cultivation soils were used to calculate geochemical, ecological and health risk indices. The results of this study suggest that, although bulbs of elephant garlic from the Valdichiana area may present slightly high concentrations of Cd, Ni and Pb, the associated health risk based on the daily intake is absolutely negligible. Cultivation soils had somewhat high Cu concentrations probably due to the diffuse use of Cu-based products in agriculture, but showed overall a very low ecological risk.

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