Assessment of lead contamination in soil and tap water in daycare facilities in Addis Ababa: implications for children's health

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, lead poisoning has been recognized as a serious environmental health problem throughout the world, particularly, for children in developing countries. The objective of the study was to investigate the lead level in the water and soil of daycare facilities in Addis Ababa. Graphite furnaces atomic absorption spectrometry was used to analyze the concentration of lead in soil and tap water of 28 daycare centers. The result indicated that the mean levels of lead in soil and water were 0.00237 mg/g and 8.26 μg/L, respectively, which are below the permissible values of 0.1 mg/g and 10 μg/L according to WHO standards. The blood lead levels and exposure to lead in children were calculated using the integrated exposure uptake biokinetic model as per USEPA guidelines. The mean blood lead level was 1.78 μg/dL, and the model also predicted that 6.497% of the children in the city may have blood lead levels above the Center for Disease Control recommended reference value of 3.5 μg/dL. Even if the values were below the reference, there is no safe blood lead level since even a small amount can have adverse effects on children. This study can be considered unprecedented as it addresses important issues that caused lead contamination in water and soil.