Pollution Characteristics, Sources, and Health Risk Assessments of Potentially Toxic Elements in Community Garden Soil of Lin’an, Zhejiang, China

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 109; no. 6; pp. 1106 - 1116
• Main Authors: Yan, Yue, Chen, Rongrong, Jin, Hexian, Rukh, Gul, Wang, Ying, Cui, Shiyu, Liu, Dan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Cadmium; Carcinogens; Chromium; Copper; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological effects; Ecological risk assessment; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental monitoring; Gardens & gardening; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heavy metals; Lead; Metal concentrations; Nickel; Pollution; Pollution monitoring; Pollution sources; Principal components analysis; Risk assessment; Risk management; Risk reduction; Soil pollution; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Spatial distribution; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Zinc; Soil; Community gardens; Health risks; Potentially toxic elements
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-022-03605-4

The characteristics, sources and risk assessment of heavy metal pollution in community garden soil of Lin’an District were evaluated. The 28 soil samples from community garden were collected for determination of 7 heavy metal elements. The Geostatistical analysis, Spearman correlation coefficient, Principal component analysis and PMF model have explored sources of heavy metal pollution. The health risk assessment model has assessed ecological risk of heavy metals. The results revealed that average concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were 16.0, 0.158, 76.1, 34.6, 45.8, 20.9 and 166 mg kg -1 , respectively. Whereas As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn were higher than background values. The spatial distribution of heavy metal pollution in the southwest of the study area was higher than northeast. The pollution sources of Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn in the study area were due to agricultural activities (42.9%), Cr and Pb were from traffic sources (36.2%), and As was domestic pollution (20.9%) according to Spearman correlation coefficient, Principal component analysis and PMF model. The non-carcinogenic risks of As (5.39), Cr (3.53) and Ni (2.07) have a value of 1, which indicated significant risk. The potentially toxic elements have not exceeded maximum threshold of USEPA, with regard to carcinogenic risk, while As (3.37E−05) and Cr (5.74E−05) have exceeded the safety range. It is concluded that soils of community gardens are facing pollution problem due to potentially toxic elements which require environmental monitoring of the soil to reduce risk of human health.