Contamination and health risk assessment of PAHs in soils and crops in industrial areas of the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Abstract

This is the first investigation into both soil and crop contamination and associated health risks by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in industrial areas of the Yangtze River Delta region (YRDR). Soil and crop samples were collected from farmland surrounded by three typical industries (a steelworks [SW], a petrochemical facility [PF] and a power plant [PP]), and the concentrations and health risks of PAHs in soils and crops were evaluated. The average concentrations of 16 USEPA priority PAHs in surface soil and subsoil were 471.30 μg kg−1 and 341.40 μg kg−1, respectively. The respective average concentrations of 16 PAHs in amaranth, spinach, Chinese chive, and rice tissues were 1710.49, 1176.96, 1218.36 and 352.12 μg kg−1. Based on both the results of a principal component analysis (PCA) and the PAH ratios, the main sources of the PAHs in soils were determined to be the combustion of coal and petroleum. The total values of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for males induced by both soils and crops were 2.19 × 10−4, 2.53 × 10−4, and 9.17 × 10−4, and for females were 2.21 × 10−4, 2.50 × 10−4, and 9.68 × 10−4 for childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, respectively. Soils contaminated with PAHs posed a lower risk than crops, but the ILCR values, 4.40 × 10−5 and 3.82 × 10−5 for males and females, was still much higher than the baseline value. The results of this investigation provide novel information for contamination evaluation and human health risk assessment in PAH-contaminated sites.