Assessment of Non-cancerous Health Risk from Exposure to Hg, As and Cd by Resident Children and Adults in Nangodi in the Upper East Region, Ghana

Abstract

This study assessed non-cancerous health risk from exposure to mercury, arsenic and cadmium via oral ingestion of contaminated water bodies by resident children and adults in Nangodi, Upper East region, Ghana in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The mean concentration of arsenic, mercury and cadmium in water bodies in the study area for arsenic ranges from 0.0120 to 0.0653 mg/L; 0.0048 to 0.202 mg/L for mercury and 0.2665 to 1.090 mg/L for cadmium. These mean levels of arsenic, mercury and cadmium in water bodies from the study area were used as input parameters in calculating the non-cancerous health risk. The results of the non-cancerous health risk faced by resident children in the study area from exposure to mercury in a dug-well at Nakpadana is 6.7 via central tendency exposure parameter (CTE) and 13.0 via high end exposure parameter (HEE); in the case of arsenic we have 1.9 by CTE parameters and 3.7 by HEE parameters respectively, whilst for cadmium we had 29.0 and 58.0 by CTE and HEE parameters respectively. The non-cancerous health risk results expressed in terms of hazard quotient obtained in this study for both resident children and adults in most cases exceeded the acceptable USEPA hazard quotient value of 1.0, which suggests that resident adults and children are at high risk of showing symptoms associated with non-cancerous effects of exposure to arsenic, mercury and cadmium such as low IQ, tremor, renal failure, etc.