Assessment of the heavy metal pollution degree and potential health risk implications in lakes and fish from northern Romania

Abstract

This study aims to assess the quality of water and sediment collected from several lakes, and the potential adverse effects on the biota and human health. The bioaccumulation and transfer of heavy metals from sediment to water, and water to fish and vegetation were determined and analyzed. The associated and implicated human health risks of heavy metals were also investigated. Study results showed that waters were contaminated with Fe, Al, Mn and NH4+ caused by the industry and intense agricultural practices. According to the heavy metal pollution index scores, the studied lakes were characterized by high, medium and low pollution levels (HPI mean scores ranging between 2.9 and 222, and HEI between 0.59 and 51.4). The bioaccumulation and transfer factors were not significant, although it can be observed that the bioaccumulation scores were higher than the transfer scores. The chronic daily intake of water, considering the heavy metal load, through the ingestion pathway (CDIingestion = 0.0019–0.087 mg kg−1day−1) was higher than the chronic daily intake related to the skin contact (CDIdermal = 1.00E-08–4.54E-07 mg kg−1day−1). Consequently, stricter standards must be applied to decrease and prevent biota exposure to toxins and implicitly at their adverse effects.