Journal
CHEMOSPHERE
Volume 271, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129573
Keywords
Municipal solid wastes; Dumping site; Heavy metals; Geochemical fractionation; Ecological risks; Health risks
Categories
Funding
- Department of Biotechnology, India [BT/PR16795/NER/95/292/2015]
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (Start Up Grant)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study focused on the geochemical fractions of the heavy metals Cadmium, Copper, and Nickel in soil samples around a Ramsar site in India, assessing their potential health risks and pollution levels. The results indicated that Cadmium posed the highest contamination level and health risk to children, while Nickel posed potential threats to both adults and children, and Copper posed no risk to human health. Geochemical fractionation and risk assessment played a critical role in evaluating soil pollution and health risks, providing a basis for future planning and management practices for municipal solid waste.
Unscientific municipal solid waste (MSW) dumping provokes heavy metal (HM) associated ecological and human health hazards through heightened bioavailability and bioaccumulation. In this study, we focused on three important HMs Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu) and Nickel (Ni) and their geochemical fractions, to enable clutter free data management, analysis and interpretation. Stratified random soil sampling was carried out from twenty different locations around a Ramsar site (Deepor Beel) in Guwahati, India. The spatial concentration profiles of Cd, Cu and Ni were determined by data elicited from geochemical fractionation and the Geographic Information System (GIS). Ecological and health risks indices were used to evaluate the severity of soil pollution and assess the level of health risks. All the three HMs thus evaluated, conformed to the potential bioavailable category. Cd (54.59%) was associated mostly with the carbonate bound fraction (F3), while 25.53% of Cu and 40.60% Ni were associated with the exchangeable fraction (F2). Significant contamination levels and higher ecological risks posed by these metals were in the order Cd > Ni > Cu. Children were found to be more vulnerable towards Cd associated health risks whereas, Ni posed threats to both adults and children. Cu posed no risk to human health. Geochemical fractionation and different indices played a critical role in the integrated assessment of soil pollution, ecological and health risk assessment, and provided an empirical basis for the sustainable future planning and comprehensive adaptive management practices for MSW. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available