Abstract
This study assessed heavy metal contents and their mobility, bioaccessibility, environmental risk, and health effects in the farmland soils of Drinking Water Source Quality Protection (DWSQP) areas contaminated by livestock manure and a paddy field contaminated by co-use of irrigation and drainage canals in Taiwan. The risk assessment code (RAC) and synthesis toxicity index (STI) for the soils were obtained. The potential health effects caused from soil direct ingestion by hand-to-mouth activity and dermal contact frequently occurring to farmers were further evaluated. The Cu, Zn, and Cr levels in DWSQP areas and the Changhwa (CH) paddy field exceeded the standards promulgated by Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). Nevertheless, RAC in DWSQP areas was in low risk levels. In contrast, RAC from Cu and Zn in CH paddy soils was in medium levels. Non-carcinogenic risks for farmers based on the total and bioaccessible metals in DWSQP areas and CH soils were all <1. However, carcinogenic risks based on bioaccessible Cr still exceeded 10−6 in several soils, indicating that the potential impacts on environmental and human health due to direct and indirect exposures to these contaminated soils should be concerned.
Highlights
Organic waste is increasingly produced each year in industrialized countries due to the increase in anthropogenic activities
In contrast to the soils from the Hehuan River (HH) and Bazhang River (BZ) areas predominated by sand fraction with the soil types of clay loam (CL), sandy clay loam (SCL), loam (L), and sandy loam (SL), the soil type from the Cijiawan River (CJ) area was predominated by clay (C)
This study evaluated the potential environmental and health risks caused by the utilization of livestock manures as a soil fertilizer and by inadequate irrigation
Summary
Organic waste is increasingly produced each year in industrialized countries due to the increase in anthropogenic activities. Livestock manure is the most common organic waste applied, either raw or composted, into farmland. The application of such waste to soil provides nutrients, increases organic matter in soil, improves soil structure, and enhances nutrient absorption by plants [3,4]. Some of the metals are toxic, like cadmium (Cd) or lead (Pb) [6,7,8,9] This disposal process leads to soil and groundwater contamination, as well as potential damage like heavy metal leaching, increasing the risk of contamination (decreasing the quality of crop) [8]
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