Estimation of Risk to the Eco-Environment and Human Health of Using Heavy Metals in the Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

Munesh Kumar,Pedro A Dinis,Amit Kumar,Marina Cabral-Pinto

doi:10.3390/app10207078

Abstract

In the modern era, due to the rapid increase in urbanization and industrialization in the vicinity of the Himalayas, heavy metals contamination in soil has become a key priority for researchers working globally; however, evaluation of the human and ecological risks mainly in hilly areas remains limited. In this study, we analyzed indices like the contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (DC), enrichment factor (EF), geochemical index (Igeo), pollution ecological risk index (PERI), and pollution load index (PLI), along with cancer risk (CR) and hazard indices (HI), to ascertain the eco-environmental and human risks of using heavy metals in datasets collected from 168 sampling locations in Uttarakhand, India. The evaluation calculated of Igeo, EF, and CF suggests that represented soil samples were moderately contaminated and highly augmented with Rb, while PERI (75.56) advocates a low ecological risk. Further, PLI and DC (PLI: 1.26; DC: 36.66) show a possible health risk for the native population in the vicinity of the studied catchment. The hazard index (HI) is estimated greater than 1 (HI > 1) for Cr and Mn, representing a possible risk for cancer. However, adults are free from cancer risk, and other studied elements have been reported as noncarcinogenic. This assessment gives important information to policymakers, environmentalists, and foresters for taking mitigation measures in advance to mitigate the potential future risk of soil pollution on humans, ecology, and the environment.

Highlights

Due to the ubiquitous bioaccumulation of toxic heavy metals, even at the trace level, and the persistent concentration increase in soils and possible uptake through groundwater, atmosphere, crops, and the food chain, these elements are hazardous for human health [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Heavy metals enter into the terrestrial environment through household wastes, agricultural and anthropogenic processes, the weathering of rocks, etc. where accumulation occurs in the air, soil, and water, while its excess concentration to ecological and human health is a more serious problem in the modern era than water and air pollution [19,34]
This study was conducted in the Uttarakhand Himalaya of India to evaluate the eco-environmental risk and health hazard to humans using sixteen different soil elements

Summary

Introduction

Due to the ubiquitous bioaccumulation of toxic heavy metals, even at the trace level, and the persistent concentration increase in soils and possible uptake through groundwater, atmosphere, crops, and the food chain, these elements are hazardous for human health [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Sci. 2020, 10, 7078 run-off, wastewater, sewage, and effluent, and has become a common but intense issue in various ecosystems [13,15,16,17,18]. These environmental problems are widespread in India [19,20,21,22].

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Results

Conclusion