Environmental pollution and health risk assessment of chemical laboratories in colleges and universities

BACKGROUND: University laboratory is an important place to carry out scientific research and related teaching activities, but the environmental pollution caused by waste discharge cannot be ignored. OBJECTIVE: The research aims to explore the environmental pollution caused by the waste of chemical laboratory, and the direct or indirect harm to human health. METHODS: The main pollutants discharged by the laboratories are counted through the analysis of the waste treatment status of university chemical laboratory. Then, the harm of the discharged pollutants to the environment is analyzed by experiments to find out the main pollution problem of the chemical laboratory - wastewater pollution. The groundwater pollution caused by laboratory wastewater discharge is analyzed, and the human health risk caused by it is evaluated. RESULTS: The results show that the discharge of chemical laboratory waste in colleges and universities will cause harm to human health. The results of health risk assessment show that benzene, trichloromethane, and dichloromethane are the main pollutants, and the use of chemical reagents is one of the important reasons for the surge of laboratory waste in colleges and universities; in the carcinogenesis of multi pollutants, compared with skin absorption, the risk of cancer caused by drinking water absorption was higher, and the corresponding risk value is 5.56e-07. CONCLUSIONS: The discharge of university chemical laboratory waste will cause harm to human health. This exploration provides reference for the study of environmental pollution and health risk assessment caused by waste discharge of university chemical laboratory.