Abstract
This study presents the first long term (10-year period, 2004–2013) datasets of PM2.5-bound nickel (Ni) concentration obtained from the daily sample in urban of Xi’an, Northwestern China. The Ni concentration trend, pollution sources, and the potential health risks associated to Ni were investigated. The Ni concentrations increased from 2004 to 2008, but then decreased due to coal consumption reduction, energy structure reconstruction, tighter emission rules and the improvement of the industrial and motor vehicle waste control techniques. With the comparison of distributions between workday and non-workday periods, the effectiveness of local and regional air pollution control policies and contributions of hypothetical Ni sources (industrial and automobile exhausts) were evaluated, demonstrating the health benefits to the populations during the ten years. Mean Ni cancer risk was higher than the threshold value of 10−6, suggesting that carcinogenic Ni still was a concern to the residents. Our findings conclude that there are still needs to establish more strict strategies and guidelines for atmospheric Ni in our living area, assisting to balance the relationship between economic growth and environmental conservation in China.
Highlights
Nickel (Ni) is one of the trace metals widely-spread in atmospheric environment[1]
Exposure to Ni and its associated compounds can cause a variety of adverse effects on human health[13,14], among which the most important are developmental, genotoxic, neurological, reproductive, and carcinogenic[12]
The daily Ni concentrations ranged from
Summary
Ni is designated as an acute toxic substance by many governmental agencies and international institutes and is classified as a human carcinogen (Group 2B) by the International Agency for the Research on Cancer (IARC)[10] and the World Health Organization (WHO)[11]. This research has been conducted as part of a 10-year monitoring of daily PM2.5 in Xi’an, one of the most polluted cities in the world[16,17], aimed to expand our knowledge base regarding to the temporal distribution, source characteristics and health risks of Ni in PM2.5. Owing to these purposes, the concentrations of airborne Ni were measured in an urban environment of Xi’an during the period 2004–2013. We aimed at (i) investigating the contributions of industrial sources (including fuel oil and coal combustions) and motor vehicle emissions to the Ni pollution in this typical urban area, and (ii) assessing the effects of the control of such emissions on Ni concentrations and related health risks
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