Abstract
The road dusts (RD) are fugitive in nature causing potential health hazards to people living in highways. They are generated from different sources on the roads and being a valuable archive of environmental information. In the present work, contamination assessment of 18 heavy metals and ions in road dusts of the country are described. Techniques i.e. ion selective, ion chromatography and atomic absorption spectrophotometers were used for analysis of the ions and metals. The content of F-, Cl-, , , , Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, As, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb and Hg in the road dusts was ranged from 75 - 895, 276 - 12718, 48 - 1423, 243 - 10,580, 11 - 539, 290 - 46,484, 110 - 7716, 84 - 1771, 595 - 15,955, 24 - 42, 164 - 526, 1711 - 5218, 63,850 - 144,835, 47 - 62, 81 - 720, 166 - 450, 92 - 295 and 0.05 - 0.12 mg/kg with mean value of 224 ± 43, 3734 ± 895, 592 ± 895, 2859 ± 662, 143 ± 29, 4826 ± 2049, 1565 ± 411, 837 ± 121, 8545 ± 1288, 31 ± 4, 246 ± 82, 3002 ± 851, 91,331 ± 18,587, 54 ± 4, 206 ± 145, 241 ± 64, 171 ± 42 and 0.08 ± 0.02 mg/kg, respectively (at 95% probability). The enrichment, variation, correlation and sources of the contaminants are discussed.
Highlights
Air pollution has become a growing problem in megacities and large urban areas of the World [1] [2]
A large fraction (>40%) of the air pollution is contributed by road transport, emitting a wide range of gaseous air pollutants and suspended particulate matter of different sizes and compositions [3] [4]
Transport-related air pollution causes a number of health problems i.e. increased risk of death, from cardiopulmonary causes, and it increases the risk of non-allergic respiratory symptoms and disease [5]-[7]
Summary
Air pollution has become a growing problem in megacities and large urban areas of the World [1] [2]. The estimated number of light and heavy vehicles in India registered is >120 million. A large fraction (>40%) of the air pollution is contributed by road transport, emitting a wide range of gaseous air pollutants and suspended particulate matter of different sizes and compositions [3] [4]. Transport-related air pollution causes a number of health problems i.e. increased risk of death, from cardiopulmonary causes, and it increases the risk of non-allergic respiratory symptoms and disease [5]-[7]. Urban street dusts are sinks of the various pollutants (i.e. ions, metals, organics, etc.) depositing by sources i.e. motor vehicles, industry, weathered materials, etc.
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