Ecological and potential health risk assessment of heavy metals in soils and food crops grown in abandoned urban open waste dumpsite
Purpose This work investigated the levels, ecological and potential human health risk of heavy metals in soils and crop plants of an abandoned open municipal solid waste dumpsite being used for agricultural crop planting at Ugwuaji in Enugu, Nigeria. Method Samples of soils and plants were collected...
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Published in | Journal of environmental health science and engineering Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 711 - 721 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Cham
Springer International Publishing
01.12.2020
BioMed Central Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Purpose
This work investigated the levels, ecological and potential human health risk of heavy metals in soils and crop plants of an abandoned open municipal solid waste dumpsite being used for agricultural crop planting at Ugwuaji in Enugu, Nigeria.
Method
Samples of soils and plants were collected from the site and heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Cd, Zn, Al and Fe) contents and some soil physicochemical parameters were determined after wet digestion with Nitric acid/perchloric acid mixture. The digested samples and all the supernatants were analyzed for heavy metals using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu AA7000 made in Japan) fitted with deuterium lamp for background correction.
Results
The heavy metal concentrations in the soils (mg/kg) ranged from 20.825 to 62.501; 7.25 to 11.806; 54.074 to 275.559; 10.861 to 40.139; 1835.751 to 2225.768; and 7166.724 to 11,601.940 for Pb, Cd, Cr, Fe, Al and Zn respectively. The Cr, Fe, Al, and Zn contents (mg/kg) in the plants samples were within the recommended limits but Cd levels were higher.
Conclusion
The ecological and health risk assessments revealed contamination and high human health risk associated to Cd. Apart from Cd, other heavy metals under investigation in the soil posed low ecological risk. The target hazard quotient (THQ) values for Cd in the plants samples were all above one except for for
Ocimum gratissimum
, indicating that people consuming the plants cultivated in the vicinity of the dumpsite may experience adverse effects due to Cd toxicity. |
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ISSN: | 2052-336X 2052-336X |
DOI: | 10.1007/s40201-020-00497-6 |