Heavy metal pollution and health risk assessment of agricultural soils in a typical peri-urban area in southeast China

Ying Huang; Qianqian Chen; Meihua Deng; Jan Japenga; Tingqiang Li; Xiaoe Yang; Zhenli He

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.10.072

Heavy metal pollution and health risk assessment of agricultural soils in a typical peri-urban area in southeast China

J Environ Manage. 2018 Feb 1:207:159-168. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.10.072. Epub 2017 Nov 22.

Authors

Ying Huang¹, Qianqian Chen¹, Meihua Deng¹, Jan Japenga¹, Tingqiang Li², Xiaoe Yang³, Zhenli He⁴

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: litq@zju.edu.cn.
³ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: xeyang@zju.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Indian River Research and Education Center, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Fort Pierce, FL 34951, USA.

PMID: 29174991
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.10.072

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in peri-urban areas in China is serious and complex. We thus developed an integrated evaluation method to assess heavy metal pollution and potential health risk to residents in a typical peri-urban area with diverse anthropogenic emission sources and cropping systems. Ecological risk was evaluated using Nemerow's synthetical pollution index (P_n) and Potential ecological risk index (RI). Then polluted areas and responsible emission sources were identified by GIS mapping. Health risk caused by food intake and soil exposure was calculated by accounting for the influence of anthropogenic emissions and cropping systems. Agricultural soils in the study area were polluted by cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As). High concentrations mainly occurred near the mining area and along the roadsides. The accumulation of heavy metals in crops followed the order of tea leaves > rice grain > vegetables. The hazard index of potential human health risk caused by chronic soil exposure and food intake was 15.3, indicating obvious adverse health effects. 87.5% of health risk was attributed to food consumption, and significantly varied among different cropping systems with the decreasing order of rice (10.44) >vegetable (2.86) > tea (0.05). The integrated method of ecological and health risk index, which takes consideration of both anthropogenic emission and cropping system can provide a practical tool for evaluating of agricultural soil in the peri-urban area regrading different risk factors.

Keywords: Environmental management; Paddy field; Pollution evaluation; Tea garden; Upland.

MeSH terms

China
Environmental Health
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Metals, Heavy*
Risk Assessment*
Soil
Soil Pollutants*

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Pollutants